


All That Matters is the Future

by Silencium1



Series: The Things That Matter [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Male Chara, Male Frisk, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader is male
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 68,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silencium1/pseuds/Silencium1
Summary: This is the sequel to my previous story "What Matters is the Soul", and I strongly recommend on reading it first if you haven't, or else you might be very confusedAnyway, the Barrier is finally broken (for the last time), and the Monsters are happy for the futureBut who's to say that the other humans won't be nice, and force all of your progress to Reset?





	1. All That Matters is the First Impression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go out to find if there are any humans to help you

You are kneeling on the ground, looking for tracks. You look a little to the left, and a little to the right, but to no avail. Groaning, you stand up straight, and continue forward. This forest is rather thick, and you feel like this would’ve been an excellent tourist destination if it wasn’t for the legends of Mount Ebott.

 

“Like I said, you should switch out your green for red,” Gaster says, his own sockets glowing cyan and blue. You know he’s searching for whole pieces of evidence of passersby carefully right now.

 

You look up at him, “I need to recover the information of any potential tracks before red could be useful.”

 

“Yes, but green won’t be useful at this stage. With your unique red coloring, you’ll be able to see anyone who was here in the past from their tracks,” he replies knowingly.

 

“Fine,” you grumble, but just add red instead of replacing the green. You immediately regret this decision as a painful headache begins. You immediately dismiss your eye colors, to alleviate the headache quickly.

 

“Can you two please stop? Your bickering won’t get us anywhere,” Frisk says, looking through bushes.

 

You, Frisk, and Gaster have been searching since the crack of dawn for any potential humans to contact. You and Gaster were the main searchers, due to your abilities to change your eye color, and Frisk was here because you and he are the ambassadors of the Monsters.

 

 **Can I take control for a moment? I think I saw something,** the yellow Soul asks.

 

 _What could you have seen that my eyes haven’t?_ you ask when leaving control. You feel sensation leave you as she pilots your body shoddily at first, but quickly getting back sensation of having a body. Your vision is tinted yellow.

 

She makes you walk over to boot-shaped tracks you haven’t noticed, either because your cyan didn’t pick it up (it might act as a zoom-in, but it only works at medium-short range things) or you looked over it after you dismissed your colors.

 

“Guys, think we found something!” she makes you say. You noticed that her use of your vocal cords made your voice have an accent you’d normally find in Wild West movies.

 

Frisk and Gaster walk over to where you’re standing as the yellow Soul leaves control, and you resume control, vision returning to normal.

 

When you take control, you get a faint smell of spent gunpowder, but you pay it no mind. You quickly change your eyes to red and purple, to see what has happened and for exact times to remember. You add in orange to get as much available information as possible.

 

A ghostly and silent man walks through you, heavily equipped for hiking. He ducks under a tree branch, and continues walking up the mountain at a tangent of the campgrounds. This apparently took place five minutes ago.

 

“Follow me,” you tell Frisk and Gaster, and speed walk after the apparition you saw.

 

Fortunately for you, it rained last night, so the ground is still muddy. The tracks are fresh enough to rejuvenate the vision of him every few seconds before he can fade due to not enough information at where he ends up. You add in yellow to give you an estimate of how long it will take you to reach the man at your pace. Ten minutes, apparently.

 

You step behind a tree to search for more tracks, but you hear Frisk give a gasp and say “Oh my gosh, that is so _cool_.”

 

You look around the tree at Frisk, “What’s so cool?” you ask, but he just pushes your head back behind the tree, “Okay, apparently I’ll just stay here until you tell me what’s so cool.”

 

Gaster walks up next to Frisk, “My, I’d say that’s quite marvelous indeed,” he says.

 

“Again, what’s so cool?” you ask, getting annoyed at the time you’re wasting.

 

“The Souls… they’re visible even through the tree,” Frisk whispers.

 

“I suspect that may be that when not in their original vessels, they will show through any living matter, and anything loosely in contact with it,” Gaster says in awe.

 

“Sooo, what you’re saying is that hide and seek has become exponentially more difficult for me?” you say, impatient.

 

“Yes,” Frisk says.

 

“Well then let’s get a move on; I don’t like the direction this person is heading, but we need first contact before he could decide to go in the direction of the campgrounds. We won’t know how he would react to seeing Monsters on his own,” you say, sprinting ahead to make up for lost time.

 

“You’re starting to sound like Chara!” Frisk yells after you.

 

“Just want to be safe,” you respond.

 

* * *

  


After another ten minutes, you arrive in a small clearing filled with Golden Flowers. You can definitely tell that, by how thickly growing the trees are around here that these flowers have never seen the sun, despite the sky still being visible.

 

The man you have been tracking is crouching down next to the flowers, apparently deep in fascination.

 

“Interesting. Despite having no access to sunlight, these appear to be thriving,” he looks down at a notebook you didn’t notice, and frowns, “Though it appears to be incredibly toxic.”

 

You signal to Frisk and Gaster to stay back, then you enter the clearing. The Souls are emitting a soft glow from your chest. You dismiss the colors of your eyes. The man apparently hears you, because he looks up at you.

 

“How would you know if they’re toxic?” you ask innocently, hands behind your back.

 

His eyes focus in on the Souls, but he seems more focused on why you appear to be here alone, “Why are you up here all alone? This is mountain is no place for kids like yourself.”

 

“I came up here with my brothers, who are just in the trees, but you didn’t answer my question,” you say.

 

He appears to decide to intrigue you, by starting out with “Do you know what these flowers are?”

 

You nod, “Golden Flowers.”

 

He nods with an expression of ‘partly right’, saying “Almost. These are the very rare and endangered Ebott Golden Flowers. They are only known to grow on the mountain and surrounding areas. There used to be an entire field of them at the base, but…” he trails off as if you should have heard about it in a school.

 

“But what makes you think that they’re very toxic?” you ask.

 

The man shakes his head, “Have you seen this place? It’s untouched by any animal that eats plants.”

 

“Oh,” you say, looking away.

 

“But onto a more important issue; can you tell me where your brothers are? I’ve been hiking for several days straight in search of these specimens, and I’m kind of low on supplies,” he says.

 

“Okay. Just trust the man I just met at being alone like this,” you smirk, turning around.

 

“Thanks,” he chuckles.

 

“Guys, can you come here now!” you yell into the darkened woods, hearing leaves and sticks shuffling, then you turn to the man and say “Just a word of caution; one of them… doesn’t look like anyone you’ll likely ever see.”

 

The man chuckles, closing his eyes, “Try me.”

 

Frisk and Gaster enter the clearing, and the man opens his eyes to see Gaster. His eyes first widen in fear, but then fascination. He runs up to Gaster.

 

“Excuse me, sir, but may I ask who and what you are?” he asks excitedly, as if he’s the first one to make a specific breakthrough, which you suppose he is. He pulls out his notebook and opens to a new page, pencil ready.

 

“My name is Wingding Gaster Serif. Former Royal Scientist, and a member of the Kingdom of Monsters,” he replies professionally, slightly bowing.

 

“A Monster, eh?” the man says, furiously writing, “I’m sorry if this is offensive to you, but no one else has ever had the chance to meet one - aside from you two, apparently -” he tilts his head towards you and Frisk, “But why have you only shown yourself now?”

 

“We can discuss these matters later, as we need to have some… negotiations,” Gaster says, then turns, “Also, Frisk and I have overheard you and John speaking. You will be able to restock on supplies once we get to our campground.”

 

The man nods understandingly, putting away his notebook, “By the way, the name is Felix Leben,” he holds out his hand.

 

You shake his hand first, then Frisk, and then Gaster. Felix appears slightly off-put when he feels Gaster’s hand, which has been turned slightly goopy from the Void.

 

“Now, we should get going!” he says.

  
  


About five minutes into the hike back to camp, you walk up next to Felix. He looks at you and smiles.

 

“Nice shirt you’ve got there,” he says, “Didn’t know that anyone has made any shirt that looks _that_ animated, with hearts circling,” he frowns a bit, “Though you’re missing red.”

 

“What?” you say, then realize that he thinks that the Souls are part of your shirt, “Oh, yeah. It was a gift from some people.”

 

“Those people must have been nice, though I don’t remember any shirts made with those colors,” Felix says, frowning.

 

“I believe it was made by the Monsters,” you say, “Stripes in their culture indicates those who should need adult supervision.”

 

“Ah,” he says, nodding.

 

You decide to change the subject, “So… are you some type of field biologist?”

 

Felix smiles, “What gave it away?”

 

“The way you were talking about the Golden Flowers,” you say.

 

His smile brightens, “And I take it that you’ve seen many?”

 

“Oh yes,” you nod, “The throne room is filled with them.”

 

He nods knowingly, “Well, most of my career life has been of searching for the Ebott Golden Flower, and you happened to have seen them possibly every day?”

 

You duck under a tree branch, “Yep. Though, just wondering, but what can you tell me about them?”

 

“You really do like them, do you?” he asks. You nod, “Well, I’m sorry to say but I don’t know much about them, save for what I studied back there and the few surviving texts.”

 

“Can you just tell me what you know?” you ask.

 

Felix chuckles, “Well, for starters they appear to be some strange hybrid between the gorse and buttercup, though it appears to be more closely related to the buttercup.”

 

“Ah. Ranunculus,” you say.

 

“Not many kids your age would care to know the genus of such a plant,” he says.

 

“Well, I’m not like many kids,” you reply. He doesn’t need to know that you aren’t technically a kid either.

 

“Another thing is that they appear to be highly poisonous, like all members of ranunculus, so I came prepared,” he says, taking out a plastic bag filled with Golden Flowers.

 

You cock a brow, “They aren’t _that_ poisonous. At least to humans and Monsters, anyway, I believe.”

 

“You must misunderstand the strength of a freshly picked specimen of ranunculus’ toxins, then,” he replies.

 

“Yeah, well the King of Monsters has apparently made a tea out of it. Maybe he’ll make us some once we get back,” you wonder.

 

“There is no way I’ll touch the plant with bare skin unless it’s proven. And did you just say ‘King of Monsters’?”

 

You nod, “He’s at the campground right now. The Monsters need some humans to help integrate into the world.”

 

“I see,” Felix slowly nods.

 

* * *

  


You hear talking and shouting in the distance, “We’re almost there.”

 

“Finally,” Frisk says, sighing, “Thought we wouldn’t make it back until lunch. Mom!”

 

Toriel turns to see you, Frisk, Gaster, and Felix. Her eyes widen at the sight of the visitor, then she walks over to Felix.

 

“Greetings. My name is Toriel. And may I ask, what is your name?” she says.

 

“Felix Leben, at your service,” he says, “And I must say,” he looks around, “You appear to be an… interesting bunch.”

 

He is no doubt correct. Mettaton is talking with Napstablook, Chara and Asriel are running around, Sans is just leaning up against a door sleeping (z’s are literally coming off of his skull), Asgore is presumably making tea, Alphys is on her phone, and Papyrus and Undyne are-

 

“Run faster, Papyrus!” Undyne yells, almost catching up to him.

 

“I ONLY RUN AT THE GREATEST SPEEDS, UNDYNE!” he yells back.

 

They skid into a large area of mud, causing mud to rain down everywhere, but thankfully not close to you. Undyne grabs Papyrus.

 

“Victory suplex!” she yells.

 

“WAIT, UNDYNE. I DON’T THINK THAT WE-” he starts, but is immediately suplexed into the mud. Even more mud rains down.

 

On instinct, you grab Frisk and glitch out of range of the mud, and Gaster summons a bone barrier in front of himself, Felix, and Toriel.

 

Felix looks astonished, “What was that?”

 

You glitch yourself and Frisk back beside him, becoming lightheaded in the process, “Magic,” you say, massaging your forehead.

 

“Magic?” he asks, amazed.

 

You glitch behind him and poke his back, making him look at you, “Magic,” you repeat.

 

“Magic,” he says, turning to Toriel, “How can you do magic?”

 

She smiles, “Why, every Monster can do magic. We are entirely made of it,” she replies.

 

“Oh,” Felix says, then looks at you, “How can _you_ do magic?”

 

You smile, “I’ve been training in it for a few years now, thanks to everyone here,” you say, beckoning to the Monsters.

 

“Oh, well then. That is… very interesting. Magic _should_ become a thing now, since you guys have become a thing now apparently,” he appears lost in thought, “Though I’ve got a question.”

 

“And what may it be?” Toriel asks.

 

“Why’d you bring me here for negotiating?”

 

“Well, it has been centuries since Monsters have been on the Surface, and we thought it would be a good choice to have an adult human who could help guide the way,” Toriel explains.

 

“Well then it’s lucky that you have come across me. My sister happens to be a Senator, though I won’t be able to get into contact with her until we are back within range of a cell tower. And by my excellent deduction skills,” he eyes her informatively, “I would say that you have come from caves.”

 

“Yes, I’m afraid we have,” she sighs, “Now, how soon would you be able to contact your sister?”

 

Felix strokes his chin in thought, “Well, that would depend on how long it takes for me to leave here. It’s a day’s walk back to the nearest town.”

 

“Well, then you can spend the night here,” you offer. He nods in consideration, “Or would you rather venture through the Underground first?”

 

“Eh… that would depend on certain opportunities…” he says.

 

“There are multiple undocumented species that you could do research on,” you bribe him with information.

 

Felix smiles widely, “I’ll bring all of my equipment.”

 

You see a SAVE point appear next to Frisk. You smile as he touches it.

 

You hope this ending will last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why, but by the end of this chapter, I started thinking of Felix's voice sounding exactly like David Tennant
> 
> As for other things, I will explain some of them in later chapters (such as how Monsters and the three children could survive drinking the tea of and direct contact with Golden Flowers)
> 
> Another thing is that it might be best if you don't ask me about the logic of certain things. I hardly know how I come up with some things myself, so I could be as confused as you
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	2. All That Matters is a Little Informing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You give a tour of the Underground to Felix

Once Felix has restocked on supplies, Frisk leads you to the footprints he made before he fell into the Underground. You immediately switch to red and purple, because you agreed that he’ll need to keep Chara in check to make sure that he’d behave in case another human comes across.

 

You hike along Frisk’s footprints for a while, before Felix begins asking you a question.

 

“So, I couldn’t help but notice how your irises change colors every now and then. Mind explaining to me what the heck it is?”

 

You sigh, “Magic, my dear Felix. Is there any other explanation that would work?”

 

“Yeah, well it appears to be voluntary, but what uses does it have other than appearances?” he asks, rubbing his chin.

 

You hop across some rocks, “Each color has its own uses, and when they’re combined with other colors, the effects somewhat change, giving me a better way of seeing things in a different way.”

 

“Okay then, what does each color do?” Felix asks.

 

You tilt your head, “It’s a little hard to explain without the knowledge of Souls.”

 

“Souls?” he asks, knitting his brow in confusion.

 

“Souls,” you say, pulling out your own Soul. Felix backs away quickly, but stops, and takes a closer look.

 

“Is that what a Soul should look like?” he asks, pointing at it.

 

“No, my Soul is rather… unique,” you say as it begins glitching, “But whenever it’s not all… flickery… then that’s what all human Souls look like. In shape, anyway.”

 

“So, the things on your shirt are Souls rather than hearts?”

 

“Yep. As far as we know, there are seven colors a human Soul can come in, depending on the dominant trait,” you state.

 

“What does each color mean?” Felix asks, intrigued.

 

You point to each color as you state each trait, “Bravery. Justice. Kindness. Patience. Integrity. Perseverance,” you put your hand underneath your own Soul, smiling widely, “Determination.”

 

“Got it,” he says, rapidly writing down what you said, then pauses, “Do Monsters have Souls as well?”

 

You nod, “Yes, though they are upside-down and white.”

 

“Ah,” he says in acknowledgement, then puts away the notebook, “Shall we continue?”

 

“Yes,” you say, and continue walking along the footprints.

 

* * *

  


You end up at the cave where Frisk and Chara fell in, and take a look down the hole. Other than a dot of yellow at the bottom, there is no indication of how far it goes.

 

When Felix looks into the hole, he makes a low whistle, then says “That appears to be at least five-hundred feet deep. How the heck did you three survive the fall?”

 

“An ancient spell,” you shrug.

 

“It’s all magic with you guys, eh? Well, I’m going down there, regardless of the drop,” and he starts taking out rope.

 

“Be careful at the bottom; there’s a patch of Golden Flowers at the bottom,” you shout after him when he goes to the nearest sturdy tree for the rope.

 

When he makes a secure loop around the tree and ties it, he grabs the rest of the rope and tosses it down the hole.

 

Felix looks at you, “Wait until I’m at the bottom before climbing down. I want to make sure the flowers are not in your way. Got it?”

 

You smile, “Sure, whatever.”

 

He doesn’t need to know how you plan on getting down.

 

Several minutes pass as you sit on the ground, playing with your phone, when you hear a muffled okay coming from the bottom.

 

You don’t pay attention to the rope.

 

Instead, you jump into the hole, turning your Soul blue mid-jump.

 

You fall fast, accelerating. The flower patch quickly approaches, and you can barely register the shock on his face as you hurtle towards the flowers.

 

You land on the flowers like a dainty butterfly, in a ‘superhero landing’ pose. The flowers barely bend under your weight.

 

“What the _hell_ did you just do?” he questions.

 

You dismiss your Soul, smiling at Felix, “I disregarded the rope, jumped in, and nicely asked my gravity to make me land safely despite my high speed.”

 

“How so?” he asks, still slightly concerned.

 

“Turned my Soul blue. And if you’re wondering, it’s only a type of magic I used rather than anyone of the Soul color naturally having it,” you quickly state.

 

“Oh,” is all he says, looking around, “Let’s continue then.”

 

You brush off the pollen of the Golden Flowers and leave the room.

 

“So, this is the Ruins, right? Doesn’t look very ruined to me,” Felix says, looking around.

 

“Just wait until we get to the end,” you state, then continue, “But just so you know, the Ruins is just the first Monster capital. Wait until we get to the current capital.”

 

“Really? This does not look like the ruins of a city,” he says.

 

You get to the first puzzle, “Yes. The puzzles aren’t activated,” you pump your fist.

 

“Wait, why would the Monsters need puzzles?” he says, knitting his brows.

 

“They are combinations of distractions and door keys, in case of attacks,” you respond, passing the spikes to get to the dummy room. Things will be a lot faster with them deactivated.

 

“Why would anyone attack from the way we came from?” Felix asks.

 

“I don’t know, but would you like to see your Soul?” you gesture to the dummy.

 

“How will a training dummy be able to show my Soul?”

 

“It’s not any old dummy. It’s a ghost Monster inside of a dummy,” you explain.

 

“How many types of Monsters are there?” he asks in awe, stepping up to the dummy.

 

“Dunno.”

 

When he approaches the dummy, an encounter begins, and his Soul slides out of his chest. Integrity, it appears.

 

“Now what?” he asks, nervous.

 

“Just say something to it.”

 

“Uh… hi?” he says. The dummy does not respond. The encounter ends, “What was that?”

 

You inhale to begin explaining, “I’ll just give you an abridged version; you entered an encounter. With Monsters, it’s pretty much them using magical attacks on each other as an alternative to talking. To them, it’s pretty much a nice chat using magic. However, their attacks against human Souls should be avoided at all costs.”

 

“And what should happen if a human Soul touched an attack?” Felix asks, raising a brow.

 

You gulp, “Well, it would become damaged. And if it takes enough damage… it’ll shatter.”

 

“What will happen then?” he asks gravely.

 

“Well, the Soul is the very culmination of your entire being; your memories, personality, et cetera. In other words, if it shatters…”

 

“You’ll die,” he finishes, “Why would they do that?”

 

“Most Monsters currently don’t realize that they’d be hurting us, because a Monster’s body acts as their Soul as well, so if they don’t want it to hurt the other, it won’t hurt the other,” you say.

 

“Oh, so it’s just a misunderstanding?” he asks.

 

“If it makes things easier to explain, then yeah. It’s a misunderstanding.”

 

“Well then,” he glances at the currently deactivated spike path, “Let’s continue.”

 

* * *

  


You and Felix are looking at the ruins of Home.

 

“Now _this_ is what I call a ruin,” he says, holding an arm out to it, “What was this beauty’s name?”

 

You smile, “Home.”

 

“Home? That’s it?”

 

You nod, “Home.”

 

“Home?”

 

“Home.”

 

“Who named such a majestic city something so simple?” he questions, perplexed.

 

“King Asgore. He might be a great king for them, but everyone knows that he’s terrible at naming things,” you say.

 

“Ah. Another question: why are there so many leaves around? It makes me feel like it’s perpetual autumn,” he says.

 

“A tree in front of the old royal house we’ll pass through. No leaves stay on it for long, so it will stay autumn long after this place is completely emptied,” you say, then arrive in front of Toriel’s house, “There it is.”

 

“Ah, how cozy. Are you sure it is okay to enter?” Felix asks.

 

“Yes, I’m sure. Just need a few things from it and we’ll continue to Snowdin,” you say, entering.

 

“Snowdin? There’s snow down here?”

 

“Yep. Past the basement. Just got to… there,” you put the rest of the pies in your inventory.

 

Felix’s eyes widen, “Where’d it go?”

 

You smile, “Inventory magic.”

 

“That could be extremely useful. Would you mind carrying my things, then?”

 

“Sure,” you say, putting them in your inventory, “Though Snowdin is the largest part of the Underground, so I’ll have to take some shortcuts to shorten the trip.”

 

“Alright, let’s go!... um, can you take us to the basement?” he says.

 

You decide to just take him straight to the outside of the Ruins.

 

“I don’t want to take too long, so I just took you to the outside of the Ruins. Happy?” you say.

 

Felix seems a little shaky on his legs, but nods, “Let’s continue then.

 

You and him walk to the bridge, but you notice that he has stopped following, “What’s the matter?” you smile, seeing the blue glow around him.

 

“I can’t… ugh… move,” Felix says, struggling.

 

Sans’ footsteps echo throughout the forest, stopping just right behind Felix.

 

“ **H u m a n.   D o n ‘ t   y o u   k n o w   h o w   t o   m e e t   a   n e w   p a l?   T u r n   a r o u n d   a n d   s h a k e   m y   h a n d.”**

 

Felix shakily turns around and takes Sans’ hand. The silhouette disappears as the whoopie cushion is heard across the forest.

 

You shake your head smiling when it comes to an end, “Do you really have to do that every time a new human comes through?”

 

“hehehe, says the kid who fell for it twice on the same day,” he responds, winking, “but anyway, tori just wanted someone who knew the area as well to go with you, so i figured i’d wait for you outside the ruins.”

 

“Excuse me, sir,” Felix says, excitement written on his face, “are you one of the other living skeleton? If so, how anatomically correct would you be to a human skeleton?”

 

“yes, _tibia_ -nest. and since i’m being honest, i won’t tell you a _fibula_ , but if you think i am telling you one, you can be as _sternum_ as you want. but _patella_ me something truthfully, do you think i’m trying to be _humerus_ , or am i just _ribbing_ you?”

 

Felix’s mouth is agape, “A skeleton just told me bone puns. Have I lost my mind?”

 

“Nope,” you say, shaking your head, “Your blue Soul should make sure of that you don't.”

 

He slowly closes his mouth and recomposes himself, “Well, it appears that there isn’t much around here for my research. What part of this cave has multiple specimens?”

 

“well, you’re lucky, since tori wants the kid to come back as soon as possible. there’s not much in snowdin, except for puzzles and trees. so, i’ll take you through a shortcut,” Sans says, holding out his hand.

 

“But the puzzles are so _fun_!” you pout.

 

“well, unfortunately all puzzles have been deactivated, in preparation for the Monster exodus. so yeah, you’re taking a shortcut,” he says, flaring his left socket a bit to show he’s serious.

 

Grumbling, you take his hand, and Felix takes his other. With a few steps, you see that you’re in the wishing room.

 

“So… what area are we in?” Felix asks.

 

“Waterfall. Yeah, we know, not the most creative name. We are also in perpetual springtime as well,” you say.

 

“We were just in perpetual winter. What next, perpetual summer?” he asks, throwing his hands in the air.

 

“Well, if you consider a dormant volcano’s magma chamber to be summer, then yes.”

 

“What?!” Felix shouts, but you walk ahead.

 

* * *

  


You are in the room just before Temmie Village, waiting for Felix to move on to the plant to study. He read each glyph on the way here, becoming more intrigued and sympathetic to the Monsters the more he read, mentioning that he knew a historian who would absolutely love to read all of the history.

 

 **Can I take control? I never really got to finish talking to Gerson before I… well, you know,** the purple Soul asks.

 

 _Sure, just let me inform Felix and Sans_ , you reply, walking to Sans and Felix.

 

“Guys, I’m going to talk to Gerson for a bit. You can move on without me. I’ll catch up,” you say, and they just nod.

 

You leave the room before relinquishing control. You feel yourself slump, then straighten up with the movements of a badly controlled puppet. He controls your body shakily, but manages to walk back to Gerson’s shop.

 

“ **Hello, Gerson. I’m back!** ” the purple Soul says.

 

“Wahaha, look at who’s come back from the dead!” Gerson laughs.

 

You stiffen, “ **Wh-What would make you say that?** ” the purple boy says.

 

“Why, you share the same accent as him when you speak, not to mention that I know the kid whose Soul that body owns,” he says, pointing the magnifying glass at your chest. You feel yourself look at your chest.

 

Your Soul is showing through your chest, but not circling where your Soul should be. Rather, it looks like it tucked itself to the side, waiting to take back control.

 

“ **Oh, crap,** ” the purple boy says.

 

“No need to use that kind of language around here. As long as the owner allows you guys to use it, then who am I to judge? Wahaha!” Gerson laughs, “But I’m assuming that you’re here to finish what we were talking about before you got captured.”

 

“ **Y-yes,** ” he responds.

 

“Now, where did we leave off?” Gerson says, tapping his chin.

 

You mentally tune out, as you churn over the information. This is slightly bad news, that your Soul will show if you hand over control. You’ll have to be more careful from now on. The least you could be thankful for is that Gerson was the first to note it, as was as Gerson as he gets about how he dealt with it.

 

You apparently have blanked out, because you feel a nudge from the other Souls, and feel that the indent is empty. You awkwardly slip your Soul back into control, and briefly feel paper on your fingertips for some reason, but you pay it no mind.

 

Gerson eyes you curiously, “You’re back. How are the other Souls doing?”

 

“Oh. Uh, fine, I guess,” you say, “I’d just like some Sea Tea for now.”

 

“That’s okay,” he says, bringing you three Sea Teas.

 

“Thanks,” you say, walking away after paying.

 

“You take care, now,” Gerson yells after you, “And take care of those Souls!”

 

After getting out of range, your phone buzzes with It’s Raining Somewhere Else. You quickly answer it.

 

“Hello?” you say.

 

“kid,” he says, voices yelling in the background. You freeze at the tone, because you definitely know that his eye lights are out, “get up to the campground. _now!_ ” he hangs up.

 

You quickly glitch into your cabin, then walk out of it. Felix is next to Sans. You look around, and your eyes widen in horror at the sight in front of you.

 

Four human men are standing in front of the Monsters, all armed with guns.

 

Looks like things are going to get out of hand very quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if some chapters feel a little rushed, as I have a hard time pacing myself when I get too excited for certain parts
> 
> So yeah, the real reason Toriel sent Sans down was that his "intentionally awkward" jokes to Frisk were getting seriously out of hand, so she had to come up with a way to get him to stop, because her laughs were not going to help in any case
> 
> Another thing is that for why Gerson is the first one to notice what happens when control of John's body shifts is because he's freaking old, so he'll have experience in spotting certain things. Add that to his normal behavior, and he'll be able to be trusted with the knowledge that the legitimate Souls are with John. Confused? ... don't ask my logic, I hardly can follow it at times myself
> 
> Another thing is about the phone call; Toriel called Sans first, who brought Felix with him. Once he sees that Frisk's efforts alone aren't going to help, he calls John for help
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


	3. All That Matters is Protecting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You attempt to keep one of the men from killing the Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bolded words indicate that the person who says them is using the curse-word variant of it, because I do not feel comfortable writing the harsher versions

“What the **heck** is going on here?!” one of the men yells. You visibly cringe at his language, covering your ears from the sound of it.

 

“LANGUAGE! THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE!” Papyrus shouts, giving the men a disapproving look.

 

“Yeah! Even I know not to use such language around them!” Undyne yells at the men.

 

“Well guess what? I don’t give a **heck** ,” the man replies.

 

Felix walks up to the man, “You said you weren’t gonna check up here until next week.”

 

“Yeah? Well I changed my mind. And by the looks of it here…” the man gives a mocking look of disapproval as his eyes scan the campground, “this place is in serious need of some pest removal,” and with that he shoves Felix aside and holds up his shotgun.

 

You decide to step in at this point, Frisk walking up next to you, “Hello there. I’m sorry, but you can not hurt them.”

 

The man looks down at you curiously, lowering his gun but leaving off the safety, “And what are boys like you doing all the way up here with these… creatures?”

 

“We are just wanting to help them out because they’ve helped us out,” Frisk chirps.

 

The man looks at him incredulously, “Seriously? These… _things_ have helped you? I would rather die than have those _things_ help me out!”

 

You look around the man to look at his colleagues. Of the three others, only one is sharing this man’s look of scorn. The other two men look as if they would rather be somewhere else right now.

 

You look back up at the man, “Well, your thoughts might change if you were lying at the bottom of a pit, possibly bleeding to death.”

 

The man narrows his eyes at you, raising his gun, “I guess you underestimate the lengths I will go to do the right thing.”

 

“Do you truly think that you are doing the right thing?” you ask, “Because if you truly do think what you’d be doing is right… you’re gonna have a bad time.”

 

“way to go for stealing my lines, kid,” you hear Sans mutter.

 

The man begins laughing, “And what do you think you can do to give me a **freaking** bad time?”

 

You smile widely even though you feel you’re at the end of your rope, “You know, I don’t usually go this far, but given your attitude along with the willingness to kill sapient beings, well,” you jerk your head to the side, “I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson.”

 

The man laughs harder, “Oh, I see how it is! Bring it on! I doubt you’d last even five seconds in a fight against me!”

 

Your smile widens, “Never present a challenge to a close friend of the Undying. You’ll just fail miserably.”

 

The man tosses his gun to the side, “Loser has to leave. And if you’re the loser, then I get to kill those _freaks_ ,” and with that he quickly tosses a punch at you.

 

You easily sidestep it, looking at him with a ‘seriously?’ expression. He tosses another punch that you dodge. You glance at the the others.

 

Everyone has a different reaction to the fighting. Toriel, Asriel, and Alphys look horrified, the three skelebros are whispering about something (even Papyrus is _whispering_!), Asgore looks slightly shocked, Frisk and Felix are nervous, Chara looks mildly disinterested. And Undyne, well…

 

“You go, punk! Show him who’s boss, and make sure he knows who he’s messing with!” she yells, pumping her fist in the air to root for you.

 

Your smile relaxes as you dodge the third punch.

 

“Just. Stop. Dodging. My. PUNCHES!” the man yells, punctuating with punches.

 

“No. But I _will_ make things a little more fair,” you say as you dodge yet again.

 

“I DON’T CARE!”

 

* * *

  


Doing this without your Soul out requires a little more effort, but you manage to do it regardless. The world around you fades away into black and white, until you and the man are the only ones you can see. You are holding off Megalovania until your turn comes and ends.

 

“What the hell is going on?” the man shouts. His own Soul is showing. It is orange. Figures. But you see something strange.

 

There are no menu options for him in front of him.

 

Shaking that off, you talk, “I brought us into a Fight. Now, things will be much more fair. Now, make the first move. Only then it will be fair.”

 

“You little **crap** , I’m gonna punch you until you’re just a bloody pulp on the ground,” the man growls, and charges towards you.

 

Swing. Miss.

 

You Check him for your turn.

 

 **Leslie** **Nicht-Klappbar**

 

**10 ATK 5 DEF**

 

***Might be slightly unhinged, but will punch you at the mention.**

 

You smirk, closing your eyes, “It’s a beautiful day outside. Monsters are free, and your Soul is burning. On days like these, men like you,” you open your eyes to reveal that they are entirely black, “Should be entering your personal Hell.”

 

You turn your Soul blue, jump towards him, and slam your foot into his gut. But, being the size of a kid, he is only briefly winded.

 

“Look at how low you’ve stooped. Getting bloodthirsty against a kid,” you say, Megalovania blaring.

 

“Where the hell is that music coming from?” Leslie says, clapping his hands over his ears.

 

You smile, “Doesn’t matter at this point. All you need to know is that you are about to have a bad time.”

 

“No, NO!” he yells, charging at you.

 

You dodge yet again, “You know, this Fight can only end one of two ways; either we come to an agreement, or one of us ‘expires’.”

 

You turn your Soul orange and rush towards his Soul.

 

… only for you to simply flick it.

 

Leslie doubles over his pain even though there was not enough power to even take off a significant fraction of a single health point, but due to experience, you know that even that could hurt you in more ways than one.

 

“What did… you… do to me?” he wheezes out in pain.

 

“Oh yeah. I forgot,” you say, even though you didn’t forget, “That is your Soul. It is everything you are; memories, personality, that sort of stuff. If it shatters, you die,” you frown, “Though don’t worry; that was only a demonstration, as I’ll only attack you proper, without causing damage. Don’t want to have your death on my conscience.”

 

“You brat! I will shatter YOUR weird and **crappy** Soul, then!” he runs up to you.

 

You allow him to grab you by the shirt collar, and he punches your Soul.

 

… but his fist just phases right through it.

 

“What?!” he shouts.

 

You smile, then knee him in the chest to get him to let you go.

 

“Don’t you know _anything_ about these types of Fights?” you say, mock thinking with your hand on your chin, “Oh wait. You don’t. Because in order to hurt or even _touch_ the Soul requires a little of magic ability. Observe.”

 

You grab a fragment of your Soul when it glitches, and pull it out. You then turn to your left, “Here, catch!” you yell, and throw it out of the Fight bubble. You turn back to Leslie, “Also, any projectiles with the ability to harm, regardless of intent, will dissipate upon leaving the bubble. Because it was just a fragment empty of magic, that Soul fragment wouldn’t dissipate from touching the bubble.”

 

“Then I will have to stab you!” he bellows, taking out a knife and throwing it at you.

 

You quickly turn your Soul and eyes yellow, and shoot it out of the air with extreme accuracy and precision, “Did anyone tell you to never bring a knife to a gunfight? Oh wait, should yellow mode be considered a true gun?” you mock ponder.

 

“JUST SHUT UP YOU LITTLE **CRAP**!” he yells, and charges at you once again.

 

You slide out of the way, and when he has passed you, you swiftly kick him in the butt. This could go on for a while.

 

* * *

  


“You know what? Screw it. Because everything I’m saying is going in one ear and out the other… I’ll just have my turn indefinitely, until you agree to behave,” you spit at him after a few turns.

 

“What?! No! You can’t do that! I need my turn!” Leslie shouts at you, running at you.

 

When he’s within punching distance of you, your eyes flash all Soul colors, and he’s back where he started. Megalovania is no longer playing.

 

“What the hell just happened?!” he screams, continually running at you for a punch but teleporting back to his starting location each time with a flash of your eyes.

 

“I’m just teleporting you back with the use of my eyes, as it’s not your turn,” you say, pointing to your eyes. He doesn’t need to know that you’re mostly bluffing.

 

According to the Official Rule Book of Fights, it is a legitimate, but highly frowned upon, tactic to withhold the opponent’s turn by not doing anything during your own turn. The eyes don’t do the teleporting, as the flash only indicates that it’s still their turn, using the Soul colors the user would be most aligned to. Rather, it is the magic of the Fight System that does the teleporting. The downsides of extending one’s turn this way is that they’ll get heavily exhausted, to ensure that the opponent will eventually get their turn again. You only need to appear to him that you can do it indefinitely.

 

“Don’t like this turn of events? Just agree with me that you’ll leave the Monsters alone, and we can end this,” you say, breathing slowly to conserve energy.

 

“I’d rather rot in hell than leave those things living!” Leslie runs at you again, to no avail.

 

“Your Soul might say you’re brave, but there’s a difference between bravery and stupidity,” you say, heart now pounding. Sheesh, this is about as tiring as using your special attack due to the natural drain of energy from extending your turn in combination of regaining the Soul fragment, which should be completed by the time your turn ‘ends’.

 

“Oh I’m being brave alright! Brave enough to kill these creatures!” he shouts, having stopped running at you.

 

“Huh, you’re just showing how really unhinged you are; not listening to reason and all,” you say.

 

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” he screeches at you, standing up.

 

“Nah, though I’ll give you a few things to let you know instead,” you say, just giving out filler at this point, “Alphys and I theorized that Determination,” you point at your Soul, “was not intended to be a primary trait of any Soul. A human’s Soul is supposed to contain only a small amount of Determination, just enough to keep the Soul living after bodily death. In fact, as proof, raw Determination is very adhesive in a metaphysical sense, and only works in small amounts naturally. As further proof, we carefully extracted some other traits from Souls. Of all of them, Determination contains small amounts of the six other traits, but the other extracted traits only contained their own traits.”

 

“And, what does all that science mumbo-jumbo have to do with our fight?” Leslie asks, looking completely confused and bored.

 

“When extracted from one of my Soul fragments, we found that none of mine contained any of the other traits, only Determination,” you state, breathing heavily at this point, “And Determination is also unique as a trait because it has an unusually high drive to do things.”

 

“And?!” he says, irritated.

 

“In my case, I am Determined to stand here until the heat death of the universe if it means you’ll leave them alone,” you say, closing your eyes.

 

“You can’t keep this up forever!” he shouts, rapidly sounding quiet.

 

“Make me,” you reply weakly.

 

You feel yourself falling asleep.

 

A minute later, the feeling of your turn ending quietly wakes you up. You hear footsteps rushing to you.

 

Swing. Miss.

 

“Heh, did you really think you’d be able-” you say.

 

**_HIT!_ **

 

You feel a powerful blast through your back, and you stumble forward. The world returns to color for some reason, and you look behind you.

 

The man who looked about as hateful as Leslie was standing a meter behind you, holding his shotgun in one hand, aimed at your back. You look down at your chest.

 

Your Soul and the other Souls are undoubtedly unharmed, as they weren’t attacked by magic attacks. Your chest, on the other hand, now bears several large, gaping wounds.

 

You try to give an ironic chuckle, which instead turns into coughing out blood. You look at everyone present.

 

Other than Leslie and the man who shot you, everyone is wearing various expressions of shock or horror, including Chara and the other two men.

 

“Heh, guess I should’ve been expecting that when I said that line,” you collapse onto your knees, only living this much longer on pure Determination, “Guess you both will have to live knowing that you were a dirty child _and_ brother killer,” you weakly crawl up to the nearest tree and sit against it, looking at the Monsters, and coughing up more blood,  “Hopefully we’ll succeed next time around,” your limbs become limp and heavy, “Then in that case, I’ll see you shortly.”

 

The last thought that crosses your mind is that Felix is holding something red and vaguely familiar.

 

Everything becomes bright.

 

* * *

  


You feel yourself being pulled, then vision comes again. But something is wrong.

 

You are viewing things from your Soul.

 

You look (or emulate the sensation of looking) behind you, and see your body, lifeless and losing its coloration quickly. The other Souls are coming out of it.

 

Once the last Soul comes out, they quickly crowd your own Soul. Or, in your view, they get next to you.

 

You focus your view on the Monsters and humans.

 

You know that Leslie and your murderer are shouting at your family and brandishing their weapons, while the other two men look ready to ‘nope’ the heck out of there. You know that your family is shouting back as well, but for all the good it does, it feels like you’re listening from underwater.

 

You observe the Monsters using their weapons of choice. Asgore has taken out his trident, with Asriel holding his Chaos Sabers (how he got them, you don’t know), and Toriel is looking angry beyond reason with flames dancing at the tip of a strange looking staff. Undyne has taken out her spear, Mettaton has apparently turned to NEO form, cannon charging, and the skelebros have out their blasters, eyes glowing with their respective colors. Finally, it appears that Chara has summoned his signature knife out of pure Determination, a fire in his eyes.

 

Only Napstablook, Alphys, Felix, and Frisk are on the sidelines. Felix looks as if he wants to help but is holding something back.

 

Frisk spots you and the Souls, sneaking around to get to you. Once he does, he cups you in his hand.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m really, _really_ , sorry!” he says, beginning to sob. When someone is this close, you can hear them clearly.

 

Using what little locomotion as a Soul, you give a slight nudge on Frisk’s hand, in a loving manner.

 

That one gesture slightly raises his spirits, knowing that you are still conscious, but it spells disaster for you.

 

The one other thing about Determination is that, when used for Souls, it is unstable in general, and even more so when in high quantities, and the body acts as a stabilizer of the Determination. If a Determined Soul fights against all odds against the instability, they can last indefinitely when its original vessel expires. On the other hand, if it fails, then purely Determined Souls can barely outlast a Boss Monster’s Soul.

 

That, combined with the naturally unstable nature of your Soul, makes it so that you won’t last longer than a few minutes. Determination as your main trait is both a blessing and a curse to you.

 

“ _I’m sorry,_ ” you whisper to him through your Soul, “ _But I tried my best this time._ ”

 

You can feel your Soul becoming more and more unstable, and not even the encouraging whispers of the other Souls can prevent you from Soul death.

 

Frisk nods desperately, thinking that you were talking about your bodily death.

 

Your Determination is at its breaking point of stability. Looks like you’ve lost the stability contest.

 

“ _See you soon,_ ” you weakly whisper.

 

The top fragments of your Soul begin sliding off, as if they and the rest of your Soul were wet ice cubes. They hit the ground without so much as a thump.

 

“Nonononono…” Frisk says, and tries holding your Soul together with his hands, to no avail.

 

You turn your vision one last time to the commotion. The blaster with the cyan-yellow-purple left eye begins charging up.

 

The unmistakable sound of a blaster goes off.

 

You don’t get to see if it hits anyone, as the second to last fragment of your Soul falls to the ground, leaving you Soul dead.

 

Everything becomes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who are wondering: Papyrus was only going to use his blasters to make the two men stop, and he sees that the other two men are not wanting to get involved, so he will naturally Spare them
> 
> As for other things, the reason for me making Determination just the binded combination of the six other traits is because of if you get the red flag in Ball. It says that using the six other traits, you got red, so you were using the other traits to help, and with a powerful drive behind it
> 
> In other news, in their universe, Determination was originally meant to be used as what was keeping any Soul in one piece. So some ancient magic users got a little curious with their Souls and somehow changed some of their Souls red, resulting in a massively increased drive forward, thus making some modern people be born with red Souls. This was after the War, but before humanity as a whole lost access to magic and the knowledge of Souls
> 
> The reason I made Determination rather unstable was because I want survivability of red Souls to be a gamble; too many stories make Determination ultra powerful, but here, it is partially sapient, so it can decide its strength. That, plus having a rather unstable Soul would naturally weaken the Determination's effects when it comes to Soul death, no matter how hard John fights against it
> 
> Now, the reason why John enters 'Soul view' in this when he dies and not in the Genocide chapter of What Matters is the Soul is the method of killing. In this, the shotgun only damages a human's body and unless it is magically modified, then it wouldn't be able to destroy their Soul. While when Frisk robotically kills John at the end of the first Genocide route, he uses a special attack type that can damage both the body and Soul, so John dies almost instantly
> 
> Finally, in case you are wondering, the reason Frisk doesn't immediately Load when John is shot in the back is because he is in too much shock. As for how the shotgun was able to shoot through the Fight Bubble... well, whoever said that projectiles can't enter the bubble from the outside?
> 
> Other than that, see you in the next chapter!


	4. All That Matters is Taking Care of the Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and the others search for the men who will arrive in several hours

You gasp loudly as you abruptly come into consciousness after dying. You blink several times until the brightness no longer hurts your eyes. You can feel the earth beneath your knees. You have apparently collapsed after the Load.

 

You look around you, and see everyone who can remember gathered around you, the others holding back from you, looking confused. Well, except for Alphys, who is looking at a Timeline Reviewer.

 

“What the heck just happened, Frisk?” Felix asks Frisk.

 

“Time travel. That’s what happened,” Frisk replies, sighing. You don’t need to use your eye colors to know that he is too emotionally drained to even be relieved at the fact that you’re okay now.

 

You take a better look at what Felix is holding. Huh. That red and vaguely familiar thing he was holding before your ‘first death’ happened to be the Soul fragment you tossed out during the Fight.

 

“kid... don’t do anything that stupid ever again,” Sans says, eye lights dimmed to the point to which you could hardly see them.

 

“Yeah, well we should be getting rid of the problem before they become one,” Chara growls, clenching and unclenching his fists, “I don’t want another Load just because you decide to become more idiotic than that.”

 

“Aww, I’m fond of you as well,” you tease. Chara just rolls his eyes.

 

“As much as I dislike the format Chara said it, I agree with him,” Gaster replies, “Physical attacks might not be able to harm me,” he allows himself to slightly melt to get his point across, “But they are uncomfortable to be hit by nonetheless.”

 

“MAYBE WE JUST GOT OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT,” Papyrus states, optimistic as usual, “BUT AT THE TIME, SEEING WHAT THEY DID TO YOU,” his expression saddens, “I HAD TO SCARE THEM OFF AFTER… AFTER WE LOST A FEW MEMBERS. THEY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT ‘LICKING THEIR WOUNDS’ BEFORE RUNNING OFF, BUT THAT WAS PREPOSTEROUS, AS THEY HAD NO WOUNDS THAT THEY COULD REACH WITH THEIR MOUTHS.”

 

“Okay, but what happened after… you know, my Soul… yeah,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck awkwardly, “I didn’t see anything past Sans’ blaster going off, not even where it fired.”

 

“Um, guys?” Felix says, looking at a his watch, “They’ll be here in about six hours.”

 

“Oh, right,” you say, getting to your feet and brushing off the dirt from your pants, “Let’s go.”

 

Chara looks at the others, “We need you to talk to Mom and Dad about the situation. I’ve got to go with this idiot,” he jerks his thumb at you, “to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed again.”

 

“Your compliment has been duly noted,” you say, smirking, “Please insert your insult up my- ouch ouch ouch, okay, okay, I’ll stop!” you quickly say as Chara pinches your arm hard.

 

“You’re gonna stop now, okay?” Chara says through his teeth, still pinching you.

 

“Yes, just please stop,” you whimper.

 

“Alright then,” he says, letting go.

 

You rub the location of the pinch and roll up your sleeve. Yep, that’s definitely going to leave a bruise if you don’t fix it soon enough. You pop some Monster Candy into your mouth. Much better. The bruising area shrinks, though there is still some left under your skin.

 

Felix turns to you, Frisk, and Chara, “Let’s go, boys. We’ve got some men to deter,” and with that, he marches off into the woods. You follow suit.

 

* * *

  


After a few minutes of walking, you match speed with Chara.

 

“So…” you begin, unsure on where to start, “What was up with those knives you summoned before my Soul death?”

 

“Seriously? You recently died and that’s one of the first things you ask me when there’s hardly anyone else around?!” he shouts.

 

You wince, and not only from the loudness. If there were any other humans around, then it would be extremely awkward to avoid telling what you truly meant.

 

“Well, yeah. I’m not just gonna mope about my death, if that’s what you thought I would do,” you shrug, “It benefits absolutely no one present.”

 

Chara looks slightly taken aback from how calmly you stated it, but recovers quickly, putting an arm behind his back, and sclera glowing red, “Hmm, you do seem peculiarly different from some of the _other_ humans I have seen, as they fear death, but are you the same as them in _this_ regard?” and with that he pulls out a Determination Red knife and puts the tip of it a centimeter from your throat.

 

Without batting an eye, you calmly state “Well, that’s not a _knife_ thing to do.”

 

Chara’s eyes slightly widen, “You did _not_ just make a joke that close to death.”

 

“Yes I did,” you defiantly state, puffing your chest out.

 

He looks at you strangely, “Okay, what about _this_?”

 

Chara kicks you in the stomach, which causes you to release a quiet, involuntary ‘oof’ and fall to your back. He then sits on your chest and brings the edge of the knife to your throat.

 

“What would your last words be in such a situation?” he asks daringly.

 

Struggling to breathe, you smile, “I always thought you were a _cutthroat_ person.”

 

Chara looks increasingly annoyed, but smiles creepily, “Oh, I’ve got one more trick up my sleeves, though it’s mostly a result of the past few timelines.”

 

“Bring it!” you challenge.

 

His smile widens, “It’s mostly aesthetic, but,” he tilts his head curiously, “it could be used to scare the living crap out of other humans.”

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Do it!” you say, smiling.

 

Chara gets off of your chest, but plants a foot onto it, looking into your eyes, “You can’t make me. After all…” his eyes become darker than the void, black tar leaking from them, and says in a slightly warped voice “SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?!” and begins laughing, the jumpscare music playing.

 

You give an unamused expression as you say “I’ve seen scarier things on the internet.”

 

“Alright boys, knock it off,” Felix comes over, Frisk trailing behind closely.

 

Chara looks disappointed, then returns his face to normal, holding out a hand to help you up, “You’ve got a lot more mental and emotional fortitude than I gave you credit for.”

 

You take his hand while smiling, “That’s what Flowey told me a few years ago, after killing me. That was my first death, after all.”

 

Felix’s eyes widen, “You held that power as well?”

 

You nod, “Preparation for Frisk, after all.”

 

He nods, then continues forward.

 

You get back beside Frisk and Chara, “You still didn’t answer my question, though. How were you able to summon those knives?”

 

He sighs, looking at you, “You’re not gonna stop asking about that, are you?”

 

You shake your head, “Nope. Too Determined to let any knowledge _that_ cool slip through my Determined grasp.”

 

Chara appears to be thinking, before he offers you something, “Okay, you want information. As do I, from you. So here’s what I propose: For every piece of information I tell you, you must give me two… no, three, pieces of information about yourself, or hidden knowledge that you might know first. Deal?” he holds out his hand.

 

“Deal,” you say, shaking, “Hope it doesn’t come bite me in the butt later.”

 

Once you finish shaking, Chara waits expectantly, so you begin, “I am older than I appear, I have advanced knowledge in programming, and I won’t be able to use bullet magic. Ever. Without yellow mode.”

 

Chara nods slowly, “Well, a deal is a deal. I learned that magic long before climbing the mountain, by a group who still used magic.”

 

“Ah,” you say, “Must be Determination-based magic.”

 

“Noo, what gave it away?” he says in an overly sarcastic voice.

 

“Just a hunch,” you say, smiling.

 

Chara punches you in the arm as hard as he could, but still smiles.

 

* * *

  


You’ve been walking for a few hours now, having located the tracks of the men (the yellow Soul was very helpful in that regard, though you heard a gunshot when getting back control), and are, as your selected eye colors tell you, minutes away from locating the men.

 

“So, I’ve got to ask,” Chara says, looking slightly bored, “What year is it?”

 

You are wondering as well, considering the year could be different from your own universe.

 

“Um… If I remember correctly, it’s September of 2053,” Frisk says, putting a finger to his chin.

 

“I don’t even want to know why you asked such a question,” Felix says, looking back down at the tracks.

 

You see Frisk freeze, and look in a certain direction. You feel the familiar sensation of Determination coalesce into a SAVE point. Even Felix straightens up.

 

“Did the area just brighten up just a bit?” he asks, stroking his chin.

 

You look in the direction Frisk is looking.

 

The men are walking in the direction of the campground, unbeknownst to them.

 

You tug on Felix’s shirt to get his attention, and whisper into his ear “They don’t and won’t remember, so we’ve got the advantage. Make sure to hold the fragment if Frisk needs to Load. Got it?”

 

Felix appears to know it’s not the time to question what you mean, and walks up to the men.

 

“Never thought I’d be here to see you here this early in the year, Leslie,” he says about a meter behind the men.

 

Leslie quickly turns around, staring Felix in the eye, “Never thought I’d see you here period. Still looking for those **freaking** flowers?”

 

Felix winces, “Language, man. There are children here,” he says, gesturing to you, Frisk, and Chara.

 

“Ohoho! Look at who’s become a pedo, now!” Leslie glances at you and spots the Souls circling in your chest, which makes him laugh even more, “And look! One of them is gay! With all of those hearts circling each other…” his eyes tear up in laughter, “You two are perfect for each other, then!”

 

“I’m not gay, and he’s not a pedophile,” you quietly say, “I’m just the son of one of his family friends. Now leave this place or you’ll regret this.”

 

Leslie looks unconvinced, still laughing, “And what? You’ll crawl all over me?”

 

“No,” you state, “We’ve nearly crossed paths with several grizzlies on our way here,” it was not false, but you have spotted fresh tracks in the ground earlier.

 

You have apparently touched a sensitive issue with Leslie and your would’ve-been murderer, as they now look slightly cautious, looking around. The other two men look as if they couldn’t care less.

 

“Now, you should watch what you’re saying you little **brat**. Because if you don’t, then I may be forced to put you down,” he moved his gun in a threatening way.

 

“Wow, unhinged much? You just threatened to murder a child,” Felix offhandedly says.

 

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Leslie’s face became very red with anger.

 

“Now listen here you son of a **brat** , I am NOT unhinged! I WILL kill you here and now you **freaking** freak of nature and the mother **freaking** children as well!” he bellows, holding up his shotgun.

 

Felix freezes at the mention of an organization, eyes widening and then narrowing, briefly flashing something, “Don’t you DARE mention that in front of them! It is MY secret, and MY secret alone to tell them, and it will be when I’m ready!”

 

“MAKE ME!” Leslie roars, and puts the shotgun to Felix’s head. He pulls the trigger.

 

* * *

  


_Click!_

 

You could feel the sheer amount of awkward tension in the air as if it were tangible.

 

“Well… that was anticlimactic,” you say awkwardly.

 

“What the?” Leslie says, checking his shotgun safety lock, and then the chamber, “Son of a…” and he starts inserting ammunition.

 

Halfway through reloading, he appears to glance up to make sure none of you are planning anything funny, but his eyes widen in what appears to be horror. Your murderer appears to spot something as well, because his eyes widen as well.

 

Leslie throws up his arms and screams, forgetting about his shotgun, and runs. Your murderer also runs and screams. The other men just appear bored, as if they’ve lost the surprise in them. You turn around.

 

Two grizzly bears appear to be running towards you, and you briefly consider running as well.

 

That is, until you see something blue and scaly under one bear and bones with red gloves under the other bear. You instantly relax.

 

Once the bears get to you, they stand up, revealing Undyne and Papyrus underneath. The bears promptly fall onto their backs. Looks like they were unconscious the entire time.

 

“Hey, punks! It’s good to see you!” Undyne says, then turns to Papyrus, “I’d say that I won!”

 

“YOU ONLY SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU STOOD UP A HALF A SECOND FASTER!” Papyrus says. He notices the other men, sockets widening in delight, “AH, HELLO THERE, HUMANS! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! THOUGH OF COURSE YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD MY NAME BEFORE IN ANOTHER TIME, WINK WINK. BUT IT IS NOT AS IF WE HAVE MET BEFORE.”

 

You facepalm, smiling. You take your hand off of your face and turn to the men.

 

The men look as if they were slapped and expecting to come out of a crazy dream, even pinching themselves.

 

Felix turns to the men, “Don’t worry guys, they’re nice. You don’t have to kill them.”

 

The men nod slowly and warily, guns still lowered.

 

One of the men steps forward and turns to Undyne and Papyrus, having found sensation again, “What the heck did you just do to those grizzlies?”

 

Undyne looks over her shoulders at the grizzly bears, “What, those things? Yeah, they arrived at camp about fifteen minutes ago and were threatening everybody. So, being the protectors of the camp, Papyrus and I naturally just beat the crap out of them!” she smiles widely, proud of herself, “But then Asgore told us to take them as far away from there as possible.”

 

The other man whistles, “I don’t know how strong you are, but in order to knock even one of those things unconscious without killing, you would have to be rather skilled,” he frowns, “But why did you bring them here?”

 

“IT WAS MY IDEA TO COME SHOW THEM TO YOU GUYS… BUT APPARENTLY THE OTHER TWO MEN APPEARED TO BE AFRAID OF THEM,” Papyrus frowns, “I THINK THAT BEARS AND THEM GOT OFF ON A BAD START.”

 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Felix says, turning to the men, “Well, it was nice to see you two again without those two numbskulls nearby.”

 

The men nod, then turn away, walking. You barely catch both men inconspicuously look behind them and wink at Felix. He returns the wink.

 

What in the world is going on with them?

 

“Well, we better get you nerds back to camp! Everyone’s waiting for us!” Undyne yells and takes you and Felix under her armpits, while Papyrus scoops up Frisk and Chara with a ‘NYEH HEH HEH’.

 

“W-wait, Undyne! My things!” Felix says, gesturing to the bags still on his back.

 

“Just adds more challenge! Making sure none of the nerd stuff gets loose!” she yells.

 

“Oh no!” Felix mumbles.

 

“Oh, yes!” you say in your best Mettaton impression.

 

Undyne and Papyrus start running, and you start squealing in giddy excitement.

 

* * *

  


After running for five minutes, Undyne and Papyrus slow down at the camp. You hear yelling, but not in the argumentative way. Rather, it is with the sound of someone putting effort into something. There are bursts of light behind one of the cabins.

 

Once you are let go of, you run off to the back of the cabin opposite of where the blast sounds are originating.

 

It appears that Asriel is working on his magic, as flames are dancing in his palms.

 

Asgore and Toriel are standing beside a tree that bears scorch marks, though the trees and grass surrounding it appear to be unharmed. Huh, they must have fireproofed the surroundings as to not cause a forest fire. Pretty smart of them.

 

“Hah! Heeyah! Hiyah!” Asriel yells, throwing fireballs with each yell. One of the fireballs misses the tree, but immediately dissipates into the air with ripples in the air beside it, like it was a normal ball entering water.

 

“Careful, my child. We might have done our best to protect the area, but we cannot risk you being off target,” Toriel says.

 

“Your mother is right, Asriel. The Souls might have given you greater magical ability than ourselves, but you still need proper training,” Asgore says.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Asriel sighs, “Can I try my weapon summons now?”

 

Frisk and Chara walk up beside you.

 

“What are they doing?” Frisk asks.

 

“Training. Duh,” Chara replies. You shush them.

 

Toriel sighs, “Very well. As you know, all and Boss Monsters can summon True Weapon at will, and they will not dissipate back into magic, though only one can be present at any time, barring some exceptions. The Weapon depends on the Monster, and will remain that way throughout their life. Observe.”

 

Asgore summons his trident, which glistens in the sunlight, and is almost, but not quite, Determination Red. Toriel summons a staff, and upon closer inspection, it is not entirely dissimilar to the one Inverted Fate Toriel appears to use, but instead, it is burnt orange in color with a three-dimensional flame carved out on the top.

 

“A Boss Monster is more powerful with his or her Weapon out, as the magic made with it is directly feeding into them. As a result, their HP, defense, and attack go up,” Asgore explains.

 

“Ah, Mom was pretty much not using full power when she fought you all those times,” you say, “Otherwise, you would’ve been burnt to a crisp in five seconds flat.”

 

“Gee, thanks for the encouragement,” Frisk says, completely unamused. You can practically hear the eye roll in that.

 

It appears that Asgore and Toriel are demonstrating their increased strength now, because they are pointing their Weapons at the tree and using the tops of them as some sort of weird-looking flamethrowers. They stop, and turn to Asriel, expecting him to try.

 

“Alright, I’ve got this,” Asriel says, closing his eyes with a look of Determination written all over his face. He spreads his arms wide and parallel to the ground.

 

A few seconds pass, and then his arms disappear. A second later, his arms flicker back into existence, bearing none other than his Chaos Sabers.

 

Once the flickering stops, he grasps the hilts, and starts swinging the sabers at the tree, flames (and what appear to be stars).

 

The tree stands no chance, and is utterly demolished after a few swings.

 

Asgore and Toriel just stand there, looking shocked at the sheer amount of power that was unleashed upon the tree. They dismiss their Weapons.

 

“I think that is enough training for today,” Toriel says, still staring at what remains of the tree.

 

Asriel lowers his arms and drops the sabers. They disappear before they can hit the ground.

 

You, Chara, and Frisk run up to Asriel, “That was AWESOME!” you shout.

 

He turns to you, a small smile on his face, “Yeah, I would say that was awesome, though it was nothing compared to our Fight in the first timeline.”

 

“What, were you only using a fraction of your full power?” Frisk asks, smirking.

 

“Yeah, I was only-” Asriel pauses, realizing what Frisk meant, “Hey, that’s my line!”

 

“Well, it appears that your Hyperdeath drawings had some truth to them,” Chara says, then smiles evilly, “Even if they were completely nerdy.”

 

“Hey!” Asriel whines, “At least they were cool!”

 

“Uh huh, sure,” Chara teases, his smiling becoming less evil.

 

“Now, children, we have all had a busy day today,” Asgore says, looking at the four of you, “especially you four, judging by what the brothers have told me. As Papyrus said it,” he puts a hand to his beard, as if trying to remember something important, then holds up a finger, “Ah, yes. As he put it, ‘time shenanigans’.”

 

“And I doubt Asriel would want to go through training again,” Toriel says, “Now, do whatever it is you need to do, so that he won’t have to go through it again.”

 

Frisk nods, and goes around the corner, you following suit.

 

“So… today was rather busy, right?” you say idly.

 

“Yep,” he replies.

 

“Tomorrow’s going to be even more busy, right?” you continue.

 

“Yep.”

 

“Can you say anything other than that?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“You just did!” you say.

 

“Yep.”

 

“You’re no fun,” you pout.

 

You walk up to the SAVE point. Frisk touches it.

 

You hope things won’t become more difficult in the following days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, the survivors of the previous chapter are Gaster, Papyrus, Napstablook, Asriel, Chara, Frisk, and Felix. Everyone else was dusted. Also, Papyrus says that his blasters were what scared the men off, when it was actually a grizzly bear behind Papyrus. Neither of the hostile men were seriously injured, so they made an excuse of it. Frisk just Loaded before the bear could reach any of them
> 
> I added the tidbit about Boss Monsters having special Weapons (important enough to be capitalized) to further explain how they are much more powerful than other Monsters
> 
> Asriel can still remember through Loads, because his current form was formed from a freaking Determined flower, the Soul just keeps him in this form. The Soul was also modified to be able to handle Determination without causing his body to melt, so there's that. Lastly for this part, due to his experience as Flowey, he is less of a pushover, and more assertive than he was originally, but not overly
> 
> This chapter also signifies the beginning of a new friendship between John and Chara, and I will be adding more to Chara's backstory as time goes on, which will build more onto the past of this universe and what is in it
> 
> Finally, as you've seen, Felix has been revealed that he has some secrets that he is not ready to tell. What is it? Only I know at this point. It will be revealed in time... (slowly backs up into the shadows)
> 
> As for that, see you next chapter!


	5. All That Matters is Learning New Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn some new things about the others

You wake up early the next morning, and blink the bleariness from your eyes. You think back to all that has happened yesterday.

 

Waking up, looking for humans, finding Felix, bringing him back to camp, showing him the Underground, the men arriving, your fight and subsequent murder, Frisk Loading, finding the men, getting them away, watching Asriel use magic. Yep, a lot of things happened yesterday, though not much after Asriel. The only noteworthy thing after that was that Mettaton and Napstablook decided to go back into the Underground to get the Monsters ready at a moment’s notice for departure once things are settled.

 

You silently get off of the top bunk, as to not wake up the others. You sneak over to the cooking area, looking for the tea supplies.

 

After a minute of looking, you locate the cups and kettle, but can’t locate the Golden Flower Tea. You feel slightly disappointed, but perk up when you know that the patch of flowers that you located yesterday were relatively close by. You still remember how to make the tea with raw flowers.

 

You glitch over to the flower patch, only to see that Felix is sitting next to one of the larger rocks, apparently deep in thought. He appears to be wearing a regular shirt with shorts today. He hasn’t noticed you yet. You glitch behind the rock and sneak a look at what he’s writing, turning your eyes cyan for a better view.

 

It is his entry about Golden Flowers. You look at what he named the species. Huh, he has dubbed it Ranunculus magicae. Your eyes wander over to the properties section.

 

_The R. magicae appears to be a hybrid of the common gorse (Ulex europaeus) and an unknown species of Ranunculus, though it appears to be closely related to_ _R. repens. I would have named under the ‘Ulex’ genus, due to its apparent uncanny ability to survive almost anywhere, but its appearance and high toxicity (evidenced by several-year old tracks and no animals nearby, not even coming closer), I have labeled it under ranunculus. It also appears to use its toxins upon contact with skin, for some bizarre reason._

 

_The reason I have dubbed its species as ‘magicae’ is because it appears that the toxins have no apparent effect on anything with magical properties or abilities, as evidenced by the regular consumption of tea made from the flowers by Monsters. In fact, the King of Monsters, according to the boys, has an entire garden of them. In his throne room, no less! And none of them have had any ill effects from them._

 

Felix is currently finishing a sketch of one of the flowers. Once he is finished, he turns the page, and your eyes slightly widen at the sight of the information.

 

There are multiple sketches of the Monsters, and they’re quite accurate to boot.

 

_The Monsters appear to be a strange bunch, as they appear to have multiple forms and types, along with the same level of sapience, so I cannot put them into any definitive taxonomy humanity has right now (should I make an entirely new taxonomy system for them?). But I digress._

 

_Monsters appear to be able to wield magic as well, and have a variety of magics available to them, as well as ones that affect the Soul and take them out of the body. The magics usually make sense in some way. Even the royal family’s magic makes sense, because even though they are goat-esque, they use primarily fire (could they be the root of the myth of goats being associated with Satanism?). The examples being the fish Monster, Undyne using harpoon-like spears and the skeletons using bones and skulls (I’ll have to ask them about those later)._

 

The next entry contains a depiction of an upside down heart, no doubt a Boss Monster Soul.

 

_The Souls of the royal family seem to be rather peculiar. Unlike humans, Monsters appear to be made up of dust, as evidenced by an incident that happened earlier in the day. However, unlike the other Monsters, who simply left a pile of dust (Undyne melted for a while before becoming liquid dust), the former King and Queen left piles of dust… and white upside-down Souls hovering above them, which shook violently for roughly fifteen seconds before cracking in half and shattering. I will have to ask them about it another time._

 

Felix sighs, and closes the notebook. What you didn’t notice before was that there was a strange symbol on the cover of it.

 

It appeared to be a wheel with seven spokes. The sixth piece clockwise is slightly out, as if it was a pizza slice that someone slid it out slightly out of place and left it there. The most peculiar thing about it was that it was the exact same shade as Integrity.

 

What does all of this mean?

 

* * *

  


You glitch just out of view of Felix, then walk up to the patch of flowers. Felix looks up at you and smiles once he sees you.

 

“Ah, what are you doing all the way out of camp, much less this early in the morning?” he asks.

 

“Could be asking you the same thing,” you reply, crouching down to the flowers, “Just wanted to make some tea,” you begin picking some of the flowers.

 

“Careful for the juices; any ranunculus is known to cause blisters upon skin contact when freshly picked,” he says.

 

You pay the caution no mind, letting the juices drip all over your hands and forearms, “I doubt these things will harm me anytime soon,” you say, still picking the flowers, “I once ate an entire handful of these on a dare by Frisk.”

 

“Hope you know what you’re doing, then,” Felix says, then gains a questioning expression, “Wait, how do you even turn it into tea without the proper supplies to turn it into tea? I know Asgore has a kettle and cups, but how would you do it?”

 

You smile, “Using just the top part of the flower will, when put into boiling water, allow it to have a stronger flavor than when made into a tea that uses bags.”

 

He nods, “How did you learn that?”

 

“Da- Asgore told me. Like I told you yesterday, he has his entire throne room filled with them, so anytime he wants freshly made tea, he could pick some. The only reason he even makes them into bags is for long-term storage,” you say.

 

You pick the last few flowers you need before putting them into your inventory. Then, just to weird him out, you begin licking the juices (or technically, toxins) off of your hands and arms.

 

Felix takes on an expression of slight disgust, “Really? You have to do that right here and now? You could have just asked me for a napkin.”

 

You are still licking off the juices, “Nope. That’s no fun,” you get a particularly sweet area, “Mmm, it’s all sweet and lemony.”

 

Felix awkwardly looks away as you continue licking, you occasionally spitting out the seeds that you accidentally lick. Once you’re done, you do the final disgust: wiping your saliva-sticky hands on your jeans.

 

You walk up to Felix, holding up a hand for him to take, but he holds up his hands, “I’m not letting you hold my hand until you’ve washed your hands with anything other than saliva.”

 

You shrug, “Well, it was worth a try,” and put down your hand.

 

Felix begins walking out of the clearing. You begin walking out of the clearing as well.

 

As you’re leaving the clearing, you feel all of your hairs standing on end, and a shiver crawls up your spine. You also feel pins and needles in your hands.

 

“John? What is it?” Felix says, though you can see his pupils are dilated slightly.

 

You slowly turn back around towards the clearing, slightly afraid of what you’ll find. Once you’ve fully turned around, you notice that, in the middle of the patch of flowers, there are a few flowers bent away from each other. You walk into the patch, and look down at the object making the flowers bend away.

 

It is an camcorder. You suspect that it was from the early 2000s. And it wasn’t here a few moments ago.

 

The hairs on your leg are standing on end, and feel like they are trying to rip themselves out. You kneel down to pick it up. When close enough, it feels as if there is television static emanating from it. You pick it up and stand up.

 

Felix walks up next to you, looking over your head, “A camcorder? Haven’t seen one of those models in _years_. And how did it get all the way out here in just a few moments?”

 

“I don’t know,” you say idly, mesmerized, “But I have a feeling that if we don’t bring it with us… it could mean the end of the world.”

 

“And what would make you think that?” he responds, looking at it skeptically.

 

“I don’t know,” you turn it over in your hands, “Probably just an unusually powerful gut feeling.”

 

“Okay, but if we get into trouble, then you’ll have to take the blame,” Felix says, taking your shoulder.

 

“Deal,” you say, grabbing his arm.

 

* * *

  


You glitch yourselves to the campground. Asriel, Frisk and Chara immediately run out of the door, hairs (and, in Asriel’s case, fur) sticking out straight.

 

“What the hell is that feeling?” Chara says, rubbing his arms in an effort to smooth his hairs to no avail.

 

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” you say, resisting the urge to attempt smoothing your own hairs.

 

“Well, what is causing it, then?” Asriel says, gritting his teeth from discomfort.

 

“If I had to take a guess, then that camcorder thingy,” Frisk points at the camcorder in your hand.

 

“Well then why the heck did you bring that? Did you want us to feel like we were rubbed against a balloon?” Chara says.

 

“No. I had a feeling like if I didn’t bring it, then the world might end. Like, a compulsive desire to bring it,” you say, shivering.

 

Asriel takes a closer look at the camcorder, then widens his eyes, “Give that to me.”

 

“Okay, okay,” you say, wanting to let go of it as soon as possible.

 

Once you give Asriel the camcorder, he gives it to Chara.

 

“What? No, I don’t want to hold it!” Chara says, trying to give it back to Asriel.

 

“Chara,” Asriel says forcefully, looking him in the eyes, “Look at it.”

 

“Fine,” he grumbles looking at it. His eyes start out indifferent, but recognition dawns on him, “How is it up here?”

 

“Chara,” Asriel says again, “Remember the dissolving thing you used to do to things?”

 

“What dissolving… thing…” Chara says, then widens his eyes in memory, “Oh yeah!”

 

You and Frisk watch in interest as Chara grips the camcorder as if he was trying to crush it. His sclera turn Determination Red. Small pieces of it start flaking off and float a few inches up before fading out. After a few seconds, the camcorder is gone.

 

“Okay. What just happened?” you exclaim.

 

Chara just puts a hand on his hip, “Now wouldn’t you like to know? Well I’m not telling you now, because after all, information isn’t free.”

 

You give an exaggerated sigh, “Okaaay. I’m from another universe, I’m also known as the Player, and my Theme is named Megalovania. Happy?”

 

“Megalovania, you say?” he smirks, “That sounds like it would sound like my own Theme, Megalo Strike Back.”

 

“Figures it would be that,” you mutter.

 

“Well anyway, what just happened was… well, I don’t know exactly what to call it. All I know is that it seems like I can send and pull existing things through time. Sometimes I find something I thought I lost, say five days ago, but it turns out I unconsciously pulled it to the time I was thinking of it.”

 

“Sooo… you pretty much can create a stable time loop with objects?” you say.

 

“Yeah, whatever. All you need to know that that camcorder was the exact same one Asriel and I used,” he says.

 

“Children, where did you run off to?” Toriel’s voice comes from the cabin.

 

“We’re out here!” Frisk shouts in, then turns to you, “But why and where did you go?”

 

“Wanted to have some morning tea,” you say, “but there weren’t any tea bags left.”

 

“Ugh, you’re starting to sound like Dad,” Chara says.

 

“What? Golden Flower Tea is excellent and delicious any time of the day, and Dad would agree with me.”

 

Asriel and Chara groan loudly, while Frisk just laughs.

 

* * *

  


It took you half an hour to get ready to leave, and it was now several hours into your trek to the nearest town. You could see the buildings in the far distance. Felix just got off of his phone with his sister, who has agreed to meet him in that town.

 

You are walking beside the skelebros, and Felix falls into step with Gaster.

 

“So… why aren’t you like your brothers?” he asks.

 

“How do you mean?” Gaster asks.

 

“Like why are you rather… goopy, compared to them?” Felix clarifies.

 

“Ah, that,” he says, clearing his non-existent throat, “Well, for a rather extended period, though it also felt like no time at all,” you snicker at that, “I was in a location that was filled to the brim with Determination.”

 

“Determination, huh?” Felix says, “Does that have anything to do with what happened to Undyne yesterday? Because she looked Determined to live when _that_ happened.”

 

Gaster nods, knowing that he was holding your Soul fragment when Frisk Loaded, “And what of it? That I’m not like Sans and Papyrus, anyway?”

 

“Well, I’m just wondering if you are anything like a human skeleton,” he says.

 

“WHAT? HUMANS HAVE SKELETONS INSIDE OF THEM?” Papyrus shouts.

 

“Oh yeah, forgot to tell you that,” you shrug.

 

“WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME?” he asks.

 

You shrug again, “My Undernet thing is ‘Skeleton in a meatsack’, so that should’ve been enough.”

 

“YOU OWE ME SOME ‘GETTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HUMANS’ SPAGHETTI, THEN!”

 

“Sure,” you turn to Felix, “And yes, they are anatomically correct.”

 

Felix clears his throat, “Well, another thing I was wondering about was about the large floating skulls you summoned yesterday. I understand the bone attacks, but what was up with those?”

 

“Ah, you must be referring to our blasters,” Gaster says, “They are a unique type of magic to skeleton Monsters, considering our ancestry comes from resurrected human remains. We also tend to be the most durable of all non Boss Monsters, blurring the lines between the two.”

 

“yeah, these things are a _blast_ to have,” Sans says, summoning a blaster the size of a small dog.

 

“Wait… your ancestry contains resurrect human remains?” Felix asks, eyes widening in astonishment, “And what are up with the glowing eyes?”

 

“THE GREATEST THING ABOUT BEING A SKELETON IS THAT, UNLIKE OTHER MONSTERS, WE SKELETONS HAVE SOUL TRAITS LIKE A HUMAN, BUT THEY ARE SHOWN WITH THE EYES RATHER THAN THE SOUL!” Papyrus says, posing, coolly, “OBSERVE.”

 

Papyrus lights up his right eye, which show his trait colors of orange, blue, and green.

 

“We can also borrow each other’s blasters, should we need to use them for a purpose our own can’t do, enabling us with more versatile ways of fighting others, should we find ourselves in a pickle,” Gaster says.

 

“But what makes them unique, other than the colors?” Felix asks.

 

“All other Monster magics can be used to attack instantly. Our blasters require a short charging period before they can fire off, not to mention that they are the only things that damage a Monster regardless of intent, considering they are quite powerful.”

 

The trees are beginning to thin.

 

Your eyes light up with curiosity, “Would you know if a human would be able to borrow a blaster?”

 

Gaster looks down in thought, “That _could_ be possible, considering that, before my accident, I took some magical samples from the Souls who have shown enough magical potential,” he looks at you, particularly the Souls, “and they have shown that their magical signatures are remarkably similar to any skeleton’s magic, so I do not see anything that would prevent you.”

 

“Yes!” you fist pump, “How do I do it?”

 

“Well, every blaster has a key that the Monster chooses, so you need to ask. Sans, would you mind?”

 

“yeah yeah, kiddo. my blaster’s key is telling it a knock-knock joke. go ahead,” Sans says, nodding once.

 

You run up to the blaster he has already summoned, and when it turns to you, you knock on it twice, saying “Knock knock.”

 

The blaster looks up at you expectantly, as if asking ‘who’s there’.

 

“Blast.”

 

The blaster somehow gains an expression of asking who.

 

You feign cowardice, covering your head with your arms, “Ah, I’m sorry! Not me, not me!”

 

Immediately your vision becomes red, then fades into the colors of the visible spectrum. You look at Sans. Huh, his left eye is glowing its usual cyan-yellow-purple, and he’s wearing his usual smile.

 

“it worked. now do whatever you want with it.”

 

You grab onto where its ears would be just as you feel Frisk create a SAVE point. You look ahead.

 

You couldn’t be more than a few school gymnasiums away from the closest buildings right now.

 

You look at the blaster expectantly, and when your thought finishes, it rises into a few meters into the air quickly, with you hanging from it. You will it forward.

 

With high speed, it goes forward, and you are squealing in delight as you fly with the blaster into the depths of the town, leaving everyone else behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are only two things I have to note (or rather, feel like noting)
> 
> First of all, you learn a couple of new secrets about Felix. Feel free to comment your speculations about him for now, though that will still be revealed in time (slowly backs up into another shadow)
> 
> The other thing is about what John does in the end of this chapter. The truth is that I just wanted an excuse to get this to happen at any point, so I decided to make some things here be able to work for John to be able to ride into town from the bottom of a blaster, because that just sounds hilarious
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	6. All That Matters is Smoothing Things Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a meeting with the leaders of the town

As it turns out, hanging from a speeding blaster while squealing ‘whee!’ isn’t the best introduction for the Monsters to the humans.

 

You can hear people below yelling and shouting, apparently afraid for you somewhat. Some people are yelling at you to stop what you’re doing or else they will call the police.

 

You roll your eyes, then will the blaster closer to the ground, and slow it down. You spot a patch of Golden Flowers, aim for it, then let go. People are screaming at you, afraid of where you’re aiming.

 

You land on the flowers, bouncing a bit from their natural springiness. You are laughing your head off.

 

When you finally stop laughing and stand up to brush yourself off, you are subject to the townspeople’s stares. You look around to see even more people staring at you.

 

“What? I landed safely, didn’t I?” you say, feeling slightly nervous.

 

One of who appears to be one of the elders steps forward, “You are standing in one of the most dangerous flower patches known to man, boy,” she says, “ _ So get out of there _ .”

 

“Nah, I think I’ll just stand here until my ride comes back,” you say, sticking your tongue out as the blaster comes down to you, “Ah, not a moment too soon. Toodles!”

 

You grab onto the blaster, then will it to rise and speed forward. You can hear the baffled murmurs of the crowd, but they quickly fade out as you speed away.

 

After a minute of zooming, you spot the group of Monsters, and quickly go towards them. You let go of the blaster, turning your Soul blue as you do it. Once you land, there is a sound of the blaster dematerializing, and you look ahead.

 

Toriel walks up to you, and makes you look her in the eye, “My child, that was a completely reckless, not to mention unwise, thing you did there. You could have been seen, or gotten hurt, or…” she trails off.

 

“Sorry Mom. I didn’t think of that, as I was too caught in the moment,” you say, then smirk, “But you should have seen the looks on the townspeople’s faces when I landed in some flowers. It was  _ golden _ .”

 

Toriel looks slightly surprised, but fails to hold back a snort when she realizes you attempted making a joke, “Well, don’t do anything like that again.”

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” you say, waving her off.

 

Whoops, that was the wrong thing to do, because she takes your shoulder and glares at you. You thought that you were immune to Toriel’s glare, but nothing, not even a Player, is immune to it. You could pretty much feel yourself wilting from her infamous glare.

 

“Okay, I won’t do anything like that again. And I’m sorry,” you squeak out. Toriel looks somewhat satisfied.

 

You look around her. Asriel, Chara, and even Asgore are giving you looks of pity, which are immediately taken off as Toriel turns around. You walk up next to Frisk, then turn towards Toriel.

 

She clears her throat and folds her hands in front of her, “Now, we are almost to the town. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior,” she shoots a look at you, and you flinch, “Please do not engage with any humans until we have established contact with their leaders.”

 

“that is, if they don’t come to us first,” Sans says, pointing behind Toriel, who turns around.

 

There is a crowd of people storming up to your group.

 

* * *

  
  


There is yelling within the crowd of humans. Some of them sound like they are arguing with each other, some look curiously at the Monsters, and at least half of them are shouting at the Monsters.

 

You can hear Chara muttering low-level profanities beneath his breath. Of them, none of them get any more profane than ‘damn’.

 

You glance at Frisk. His eyes appear to be widened in slight horror at the sight of so many angry humans at once.

 

Felix steps up to the crowd with his eyes closed, and raises his hand, as if trying to catch their attention.

 

“May I please have everyone’s attention?” he shouts, still holding up his hand.

 

Roughly half of the crowd quiets down, looking at him strangely, while the other half, mostly the hateful humans, continues shouting at the Monsters.

 

There is a loud sound of wood bending and breaking accompanied with a loud ‘ngahhh!’ and the ground shakes. You look at the source of sound.

 

Undyne has torn up one of the trees and suplexed it. The entire group of humans is flabbergasted. You, Frisk, and Chara merely look bored.

 

“Ngahhh! Can’t you all just SHUT UP for TWO seconds?! He is trying to talk to you guys, but you keep yelling at us! So just BE QUIET, and listen to him! God!” she yells to the crowd, tossing aside the tree to an area no one was occupying, causing the ground to shudder. She puts her hands on her hips.

 

The hate-filled humans look too dumbfounded to say anything. Felix puts his hand down, but you notice that his hand is faintly glowing blue, but it fades after two seconds of putting his hand down.

 

Okay, there is seriously something strange going on with Felix. But you have more important matters to focus on right now. Like making sure none of your friends join a vacuum cleaner.

 

You lock eyes with Frisk, and you promptly nod. He appears to understand what you’re wanting to say, because he nods back and takes a step forward. You follow suit.

 

“Can everyone please give me your attention?” he shouts. Well, as loud of a shout as he can, considering his voice isn’t very loud in the first place.

 

Everyone looks at Frisk, who appears to slightly shrink under their gaze. You take the wheel, “Attention, people of… excuse me, but what is the name of this place?” you ask.

 

“Ebott’s Shadow,” one member says, looking nervous.

 

“Ebott’s Shadow? Who named this place, Asgore?” you mutter, before raising your voice again, “Well, people of, er, Ebott’s Shadow… We have journeyed from Mount Ebott, and request a meeting with your town’s representatives as our jobs as ambassadors to the Monsters?” you say, unsure on what to say.

 

Most of the crowd breaks into laughter, most likely because you, as looking like a kid, claimed to be an ambassador to what they see as creatures.

 

“Why, isn’t that so adorable?!” one man laughs, “How could either of you act as ambassadors to these  _ things _ ? Much less one with those animated heart designs on your shirt?”

 

“Yeah, this is what I think of that,” one woman says, and pulls out a handgun, pulling the trigger.

 

You close your eyes, not wanting to see where the bullet ends up.

 

You hear a sound that sounds like a drop of water hitting more water. You open your eyes and look around.

 

Gaster is holding a bullet, small ripples stretching from where the left side of his ribs are. He does not look amused, and neither do Sans or Papyrus.

 

“We are all lucky that it ended up hitting me rather than one of you,” he says, looking at the other Monsters, “Though it did not carry enough intent to kill.”

 

“Well how’s this for size?” a man beside the woman says, and pulls out a slightly different model of handgun, and turns off the safety, turning it on one of the other Monsters.

 

“Stop this nonsense immediately!” a woman’s voice yells out. Felix immediately perks up.

 

A woman that looks vaguely like Felix comes through the crowd, dressed formally. She stops in front of Felix.

 

“Hello, Joy. Long time, no see,” he says to her.

 

“Greetings to you as well, Felix,” Joy replies, smiling. She turns to the crowd, “If you could make way for them, please.”

 

“But Senator Vive,” one person says to her, “they’re  _ monsters _ . Who knows what they could do to you!”

 

You feel angered at the way they said Monster. You really want to shout at them about how the Monsters are less of monsters than them.

 

Joy looks the person in the eye, “I have full trust in my brother’s ability to assess whether or not if they’re dangerous. And if he supports them, then I shall as well.”

 

You hear the person muttering about how they’re not going to vote for her in the next election, but she ignores them.

 

The crowd reluctantly parts and disperses, some of them casting dark looks at your group.

 

“Please follow me,” Joy says, beckoning.

 

After a brief pause, you and the others follow her, uneasiness still in the air.

 

* * *

  
  


You enter a building that you suspect to be the town hall, and enter a side room that appears to be a conference room.

 

Once everyone is inside, Joy closes the door, then makes some calls.

 

A few minutes later, you hear multiple voices outside of the door, apparently having been told to wait for others to arrive first.

 

You turn to Joy, “Well, what is a senator like you doing all the way over here?”

 

She smiles, “Well, Congress is not in session right now, and I have some connections here through my husband’s side of the family. So naturally, I’m the best person for this job.”

 

You stare at her, “I’m surprised you aren’t acting like how I’d imagine most people would react when seeing a Monster for the first time.”

 

Joy chuckles, “Let me guess: when Felix first saw them, he went full biologist mode?”

 

“Hey!” Felix says, “It was with good reason!”

 

Someone knocks on the door, accompanied with someone asking if everyone can enter.

 

Joy nods, and you walk over to the door to open it.

 

Apparently the people behind it didn’t expect a child to open it, as they look very confused.

 

“You may enter,” you pause, “And I highly suggest keeping an open mind when you enter.”

 

The representatives look confused, but enter. When most of them look ahead, they freeze at the sight of the Monsters.

 

The tension in the room is so thick that you feel like if you asked, Chara would happily cut it out of the air with his Determination Knife.

 

One man moves to the front of the crowd, looking at Joy, then to the Monsters, then to the representatives of the town.

 

“Well, what are we waiting for? Take a seat,” he says. Huh, he appears to be one of the more supportive people.

 

Slowly, but surely, the humans take seats. You take a seat on the Monster side of the table. You are short enough so that the Souls are hidden by the table, because you aren’t in the mood to answer any queries about them.

 

Once everyone is seated, you clear your throat, and everyone looks at you as either expectantly or skeptically.

 

“Hello there. I’m John Andrews, and this is my brother, Frisk,” you gesture to him, “And we’re the ambassadors for the Monsters,” you point at the Monsters.

 

The representatives just stare at you and the Monsters, as if this were some elaborate joke you had set up. Only one of them looks at you seriously, and it was the man who told the others to sit down.

 

“Howdy,” Asgore speaks up, breaking the silence, “I’m Asgore, and what he has just said is entirely true. We are the Monsters, and they are our ambassadors.”

 

“THEY ARE BOTH CORRECT,” Papyrus says, posing dramatically in his chair, “THEY ARE AS GREAT AT BEING AMBASSADORS AS I AM AT BEING THE GREATEST MASCOT OF MONSTERKIND.”

 

One of the representatives finds his voice, “Do you really think that we should take you seriously? You just show up at our doorstep and expect us to take you seriously when you have an over enthusiastic skeleton as a so called ‘mascot’ and two children as ambassadors?!”

 

“better watch what you’re saying, pal,” Sans warns, lights threatening to vanish, but Gaster puts a goopy hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.

 

You see Joy whisper to Felix, who nods. Felix leans back, closing his eyes and putting his hands in his pockets. You witness a faint blue glow coming out of the edges of his pockets.

 

“Can you please tell us what you want?” the supportive man asks. You take a closer look at his nametag.

 

Mayor Vive.

 

He must be Joy’s husband. You are relieved somewhat.

 

“We just want Monsters to come to the Surface, and live with humans in peace,” Toriel states, nodding slowly.

 

There are unanimous murmurs among the Monsters.

 

“And was there any purpose to why you were locked into the ground?” the mayor asks, raising a brow.

 

You and Frisk give a brief explanation of the War (conveniently neglecting the mention of Soul absorption), and emphasize the point of the wrongness of their imprisonment.

 

After the short explanation, Mayor Vive has his eyes closed, nodding. You were slightly surprised, considering it seemed like he has already heard this story before.

 

“So the Monsters were imprisoned for an unfounded fear, correct?” he says.

 

“Regrettably so,” Asgore says, eyes closed and solemnly nodding.

 

“Alright, you’ve got my vote,” he says, nodding, “If the most of the others agree, then we shall allow you some land from Ebott’s Shadow,” he turns to the rest of the representatives, “What do you think?”

 

At least two-thirds of the representatives wore expressions of being slightly dazed, and nodded vaguely. Of the remaining, two or three appear to genuinely agreeing with the mayor. The rest are adamantly opposed to allowing the Monsters land, though look slightly conflicted.

 

The mayor looks somewhat pleased, and turns back to the Monsters, “I guess that’s settled. I’ll get the paperwork ready in a bit.”

 

* * *

  
  


You feel successful at your and Frisk’s first task as ambassadors, though you couldn’t shake the feeling that it was way too easy. You suspect there were more forces at work during the meeting, and one of them was Felix.

 

Mayor Vive walks over to Joy, and pecks her cheek. Yep, it’s confirmed. They’re husband and wife.

 

“Thanks for getting everyone together, Joy,” he says, turning to Felix, “And thank you for being here.”

 

Felix waves once, “Just being a good friend is all.”

 

You narrow your eyes and walk up to him, tugging on his shirt.

 

He looks down at you and smiles, “Hey there” he says, then frowns, “What does that face mean?”

 

“You did something to help us, didn’t you,” you say. It was not as much a question as it was a statement.

 

“What do you mean?” he eyes you suspiciously, “Are you annoyed at what I did?”

 

“Not really, but-” you begin.

 

“Then don’t bring it up,” he cuts in, looking at you.

 

“I know that you have some suspicious looking secrets,” you state.

 

“And from what you heard yesterday, I said that I will reveal them when I’m ready,” Felix retorts.

 

You narrow your eyes as much as you could while still being able to see, and say “I’m Determined to find out one way or another as soon as possible,” and point at your eyes with your middle and index finger, then point them to his eyes.

 

Felix laughs, “I’m sure you are,” he ruffles your hair, “But not anytime soon.”

 

Huffing, you go back to the Monsters, who are chatting with the mayor.

 

Sans walks up to you, “asgore and tori have requested that some people should go back to ebott to let everyone know that it’s okay for everyone to leave the mountain now. and seeing that we are the only ones who could go such distances quickly - other than gaster, for obvious reasons - papyrus has elected the two of us to go back to the underground.”

 

You sigh, “He just wants you to not be a lazybones, right? Or for you to turn me into one.”

 

Sans chuckles, “i s’pose that’s about accurate,” he ruffles your hair more than Felix, “now, let’s go. as you know…”

 

You smile, “You know a shortcut.”

 

“hehehe, you truly know me,” he says, holding out a hand, then turns to the others, “don’t move until we get back.”

 

You grab Sans’ hand, and immediately find yourself at MTT Resort. Luckily, Mettaton is passing through.

 

You walk up to him, “Tell everyone that it’s okay to leave the mountain now.”

 

He looks down at you and smiles, “Alright, darling. Anything for my sweet little costar,” he walks away, leaving you blushing profusely.

 

Sans walks up to you, “well, if you’re finished blushing, how about we go back to the others?”

 

You nod your head off, taking his shoulder and glitching back to the conference room.

 

Everyone is in slightly different places than when you left.

 

“You failed,” you say, smirking, “We told you not to move until we got back, but you obviously moved.”

 

The room was filled with a cacophony of laughs, chuckles, giggles, and groans, with some confused faces mixed in.

 

The future is looking slightly brighter right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't much for me to say here, but I'll try
> 
> I decided to name the town 'Ebott's Shadow' because, somehow, when Mount Ebott's shadow is at its longest, it encompasses the entire town. Also, I didn't mention this directly in the chapter, but this town happens to be the village Chara came from several centuries before the story takes place
> 
> So yeah, another thing to mention is Felix. You just learned something new about him. I wonder if you have figured it out yet... but if you haven't, then don't worry! You will find out soon enough (slowly backs up into yet another shadow). Okay, why are there so many shadows? Do I need some new light bulbs, then?
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter! (And bring me some light bulbs for my notes section, please?)


	7. All That Matters is a Little Nighttime Learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Chara learn some new things while overhearing a late-night conversation you weren't invited to

It took a few days, but most of the Monsters have been relocated to the outskirts of Ebott’s Shadow, in a tent city. For the Monsters who would have difficulties crossing the distance, Gaster has recruited the Memoryheads to aid them.

 

You and Frisk have been overseeing that everything is going as smoothly as possible between the Monsters and the relatively few humans who have to pass through the Monster area every day. Most of them plainly try to avoid looking at the Monsters, some look at them with scorn, and the least amount look curious in a good way. You don’t know if the ones who avoid looking are a good or bad sign.

 

The things that humans have been doing so far would barely pass as pranks, such as putting ‘kick me’ signs on some of them, tripping them ‘coincidentally’, and the most serious being causing some of their tents to collapse in the middle of the night. You might like a joke as much as the next person, but if it’s to people you love in an unfunny fashion, then that is a serious thing.

 

Chara has taken to going with you at night to make sure that the ‘pranks’ don’t escalate into anything worse. Most of the time, when you and Chara catch someone, Chara does his jumpscare face at them, which usually sends them running with their metaphorical tails between their legs.

 

Tonight is no different, having already caught two would-be perpetrators. They were trying to fill in the expansion of the nearby lake with dirt. You suspected that they knew that their attempt was in vain, but wanted to irk the Monsters in some way. You are currently on your way to the buildings that are currently being constructed.

 

“Ugh, if we find any more humans trying to sabotage, then we should ask one of the skeletons for a couple of blasters,” Chara groans.

 

“Who from, though? Papyrus would be more willing than Sans or Gaster, but Gaster could have his change their colors for our purposes,” you ponder, “Eh, Papyrus would be a safer bet.”

 

You hear muffled voices to your right, so you and Chara look in the direction of them.

 

Some humans are at one of the houses that is currently in construction, a light behind them so that their features couldn’t be easily identified. They appear to be taking out some of the supports’ nails, to make the beams weaker. One of them finishes and hides the toolbox beneath what would be the porch.

 

You turn to Chara, “Wanna give them a warning slice?”

 

You can hear the evil smile in his voice as he says “I’ll gladly do it.”

 

Chara’s eyes glow red as he summons his Determination Knife and slashes the air at an angle just above their heads. When his arm finishes its arc, a red curved slash flies forward. You have to stifle a laugh, because it appears to give one of the people a slight haircut.

 

Everyone there is alarmed, but don’t appear to be enough to leave. They look in your direction, and go stiff, looking right into your eyes, or at least in your and Chara’s direction.

 

You smile. They might not be able to see either of you, as it’s too dark to even make out your forms when not light adjusted, but there’s something that they can still see light as day.

 

The Souls. They were your silver lining as well.

 

The people, when they are no longer stiff from fright, immediately drop the tools they were carrying (one being unfortunate enough to accidentally drop onto their foot) and hightail it out of there.

 

You brush your hands off of each other, as if wiping off dirt, “Another job well done. Now let’s get back to the tents before Mom finds out that we’re out of bed yet again.”

 

Chara nods, “Don’t want her chewing us out yet again.”

 

You and Chara begin walking to your end of the settlement of tents, not wanting to take a shortcut when the night is still nice.

 

“Luckily they saw the Souls. It appears that those scum were the ones we encountered last night, considering how fast they ran away,” Chara says.

 

“Yep,” you nod, “The one thing we can always count on with malevolent humans; learning to fear certain things. Guess last night was enough to get them to associate the Souls with you being close by. We make an excellent team in that case.”

 

You can feel his glare on you as he says “Don’t be going soft on me right now. I was only with you for the past few nights out of a mutual desire to make sure there won’t be any troublemakers-” Chara suddenly stops, looking alertly in a direction to your slight left. You look where he is looking.

 

Through the darkness, you can see a shape moving. Human-shaped, to be more specific.

 

“Another human!” Chara whisper-yells, “How bad can this night get?”

 

“Hold on, they’re not doing anything much. Yet,” you say.

 

“What, do you expect us to wait until they start potentially wreaking havoc on one of the other things?” he says.

 

“Keyword: potentially. Meaning that until we witness them doing something bad, we should just observe them,” you say knowledgeably.

 

“So... what you’re saying is that if we catch them in the act of troublemaking, we can get the jump on them and boot them out rather than taking them on right now, before they can even commit a crime?” Chara asks skeptically.

 

“Uh huh. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that jazz,” you respond, still watching the person. They have started walking towards Ebott’s Shadow.

 

Chara makes a hum of his voice that you’ve come to associate with him spotting an opportunity to seize, “Hmm… I say…” he taps his chin, “If we catch the human doing something bad, then you owe me… ten pieces of information.”

 

His last word is barely out of his mouth before you say “Deal.”

 

You are Determined to win this bet.

 

* * *

  
  


You and Chara have been tailing the human for about fifteen minutes before they leave the tent area. None of the lights have been bright enough to light up the figure’s features significantly, and you can’t get a good enough angle of their face without risking the Souls revealing you.

 

You follow the human into town. You know that they haven’t done anything bad, but curiosity is pulling both you and Chara towards following them. You wonder if anything has changed since Chara has lived here, but realize that that was a dumb thought.

 

As if the universe, or some other force, had read your mind and is rewarding you for technically winning the bet, Chara begins talking as he looks around, even though you have both walked through town twice.

 

“The world has changed so much since I was last up here,” Chara murmurs.

 

“Okay, quick question: would you know what year, relative to humans, you fell into the Underground?” you ask.

 

“If I remember correctly… I think… 990? Sometime during then,” he says, deep in thought.

 

“Okay, if the number next to the X in 201X were to stand for how many years since the Barrier was put up, then the Barrier was erected in roughly… 789 AD. Leaving the current year, by that calendar, at…” you mutter, trying to do the math in your head.

 

**The current year would be 1264X in Barrier years,** the purple Soul tells you informatively.

 

_ Thanks, _ you reply.

 

“The year would be 1264X, though I doubt they’d use that dating system anymore,” you say, looking at Chara, stopping.

 

Chara has stopped moving, and his already light skin has somehow become even paler. His breathing is slightly ragged, and his pupils are pinpricks looking at something in the distance. You look at where he is staring.

 

The patch of Golden Flowers.

 

You look back at Chara, putting two and two together, “Is that where Asriel slash you brought your body?”

 

“Yes,” he responds, breath slightly shaky.

 

“Are you going to be okay?” you ask, looking him in the eye.

 

“I… I think so,” Chara takes a calming breath, “I just didn’t think I’d ever have to visit this place again as myself, and by the looks of it, it has gotten even bigger than I thought it ever would.”

 

“Well, yeah. What did you expect, you were last here roughly a thousand years ago, so of course it would have grown a heck lot more than the time you originally lived in,” you laugh nervously, looking back at the patch.

 

The figure is standing at the edge of the flower patch, and slowly looks left to check their surroundings. You hold in a gasp as you see the flowers somehow illuminating their features.

 

It’s Felix.

 

You haven’t seen him in the past few days.

 

After he checks to his right, he walks across the patch of Golden Flowers.

 

You mentally hold the phone.

 

He just walked through what was said to be the most dangerous flower patch known to man, and in shorts, no less! And according to his notes, the toxins act upon skin contact, harming anyone that doesn’t have any magical abilities! So why would he walk through the flower patch without… any protection from… the toxins…

 

Oh. Oh!  _ Oh! _ Your eyes widen in realization, and have to keep yourself from facepalming so hard your entire face would’ve bruised.

 

Felix must be a magic user.

 

That would explain all of the stuff that happened when first introducing the Monsters to Ebott’s Shadow. But you push that from your mind, as he does something else.

 

He takes out his phone, dials a number, then holds it up to his ear.

 

Not wanting to miss a moment of the call, you stealthily speed walk, then jump into the Golden Flowers. Chara has apparently followed your lead, as you hear the flowers near you crumple under his weight.

 

Felix has apparently heard you, as you see him whip his head around at the sound. He briefly pauses over your position, but continues, shaking his head. You hope he didn’t notice the Souls.

 

“Ah, nice to hear from you again so soon, Jack,” he says into the phone. You’re not close enough to hear the other end clearly, but you’re not risking your chances by crawling closer.

 

Felix pauses, apparently listening, “Yes, I know, but I couldn’t do it any other time, and the Golden Flower patch you told me about is the safest place I can call you,” he pauses, listening “Yes, I’m sure that no one is around! You know I’m an Integrity, for God’s sake.”

 

He said it in such confidence that you quietly exhale in relief. He also said integrity in the same way one would say Soul, so his contact must also be a magic user with knowledge of Souls as well.

 

“Yeah, I know, the Monsters were lucky you’re a Justice, but you’re getting me sidetracked on the real purpose of my call,” he says, “It has to deal with the three boys from Mount Ebott.”

 

You stiffen up, not daring to breathe. Chara sounds like he has as well.

 

“I have watched them ever since they introduced me to the Monsters, and they all appear to have Determination-based magic, though one of them seems unable to do it in any conventional way, instead using it to manipulate the color of his Soul to do different things,” he says. You hear the muffled voice talk before Felix continues, “I felt it when he used Soul magic to get to the bottom of a freaking five hundred foot drop without any injuries.”

 

The person on the other end seems to be talking for a while, before he continues, “Well, what I think is that we should take them to the Corps, so that they could learn how to use their magics properly.”

 

You wonder what the Corps is, though you aren’t sure how to feel about them. If you’re taken away from the Monsters, then you feel like you would be Determined to not leave them, considering they were your family.

 

The person on the other end seems to have angered Felix somewhat, because his voice becomes aggressive, “Yes, I know it’s not in most Integrities’ nature to do such a thing. Yes, I know that they’re only kids. And yes, I know that it isn’t fair to take away their childhoods, but the least I’m doing is being honest, and if I’m being honest, then they might be able to better use their abilities, which would…”

 

He appears to be cut off, and when he tries getting a word in, he is abruptly shut down. This happens for roughly two minutes, before he is huffing, though you can tell most of the anger is gone, so he has gone to trying to get a better solution.

 

“Alright, alright, just shut the hell up. If you’re not allowing me to allow them into the Corps, then the least I can do is invoke Article 11.03. That way, I can watch over them, do their legal things, as God knows what will happen if hateful people find out that they’re technically homeless, and when the time comes, even help them learn how to use their magics properly. I might not be a Determination, but I still have the notes from when we were learning,” he pauses, “And what do you mean about his and those Souls? Well, I’ll have to ask him some other time.”

 

A high pitched beep cuts through the silence of the night. Felix looks at his phone screen before putting the phone to his ear again, “Sorry to cut this talk short, but my phone has low battery. Yes, I know that even you could hear it. So just shut up. Goodbye.”

 

Felix presses a button, and you hear the clear tone of a call ending. He begins to turn around to your direction.

 

You quickly grab Chara’s arm, and glitch away.

 

* * *

  
  


You end up in the tent set up for you, Asriel, Chara, and Frisk. Asriel and Frisk appear to have been talking about something, but abruptly stop talking, giving you their full attention.

 

“Anything happen tonight?” Frisk asks expectantly.

 

“Just found several scummy humans doing scummy things,” Chara says, shrugging one of his shoulders.

 

“We also found Felix roaming around a bit,” you mention, “We just watched him.”

 

Frisk and Asriel’s eyes widen in surprise, “He was here? We haven’t seen him in a few days, so why would he be here in the dead of night?”

 

You shrug, “I don’t know, but we also found out that he’s a magic user.”

 

Chara looked at you, “How would you definitely know?”

 

You rub the back of your neck, “The day we came here, I snuck a look at his notes at that patch of Golden Flowers on Ebott, and he named the species Ranunculus magicae, because apparently it’s a species of buttercup whose toxins don’t harm those with magical abilities. So we can consume them safely without ill effects, but not non-magical humans,” you remember another thing, “Oh yeah, just now he was the exact same patch of flowers that you and Chara were nearly killed at.”

 

“Oh,” Asriel says, scrunching his face in distaste at the unpleasant memory.

 

“He also called someone, and apparently his colleague is also a magic user, as he mentioned Soul traits about as normally as one would say about the color, and he apparently wants to help us with our magic someday, so it won’t get out of control,” you say, “But I already have a lot of control over my own magic.”

 

“Oh, quit being so narcissistic,” Chara says, flopping onto his sleeping bag, colored lime green with a single yellow stripe.

 

“It’s not narcissistic if it’s true,” you say, sticking your tongue out.

 

Chara makes an incoherent grumble into his sleeping bag.

 

You get into your own sleeping bag, colored red with two golden yellow stripes. You think about the things that have happened in the past hour. You have learned many new things within that time frame.

 

A few minutes later, you hear padded footsteps come to your tent door, the flap opening, then after a few seconds, you can hear Toriel sighing in relief at the four of you lying there, then the flap closes.

 

You are quickly being submerged into the waters of sleep, and your last thoughts turn to what Felix has said.

 

You’re Determined to learn more about his colleague, and if there are any more magic users.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't much to say here, but I'll do my best
> 
> In case you're wondering, the whole problem with many humans hating Monsters will escalate, but right now, they're mostly prank-level to inconvenience-level. Also, I would say that John and Chara's forbidden nighttime patrolling is the closest they'll get to bonding at this point of the story, though I plan for them to get the two to a point where they don't have to trade information
> 
> Alright, just changed the light bulbs of this section, so we should not have anymore shadows. But anyway, yes, I did make Felix a magic user, though he will reveal more to the three as time goes on. Originally, I wasn't going to make him be a magic user when I started this story, but I thought that this would be more interesting and more convenient for me to write. But other than that, you now know that he has other colleagues, maybe an entire organization, that uses magic. But are you sure? Only time will tell (actually, only I will tell). (Light bulb above me breaks, leaving me in shadow) Gosh darn it!
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter! (And I might need an electrician for my notes section)


	8. All That Matters is Knowing School Might be Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are enrolled into school, and meet some very rude people in the process

“How’s this?” Asriel says, holding up a so high-tech that it makes even your head spin with amazement.

 

Chara takes the model from Asriel’s hands, and begins inspecting every inch, poking every button on it. His thumb accidentally presses a button, and a glasslike display pops out from the side, showing a seemingly holographic image projected onto it.

 

“Ooh!” you, Asriel, and Chara say in awe.

 

Frisk looks at you the same expression someone would give to someone fawning over something very common, “Why are you even staring so intensely at that? It’s only the model from three years ago.”

 

“Yeah, well remember, I’m from another universe. To me, I’m pretty much forty years in the future, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” you say, still looking at the camera.

 

“Whatever,” he replies, continuing down the aisle.

 

Today was the first day Ebott’s Shadow was allowing other Monsters within the limits of the town proper, rather than just within the city limits. Other than members of the ‘main cast’, no other Monsters were allowed in the town. As a small celebration, Toriel gave the four of you some currency (after the bank converted it from gold, of course) to buy something that the four of you can agree. When one of the cashiers up front caught sight of Asriel, her smile became more strained.

 

You grab the camera from Chara’s hands, and look over it yourself, wanting to decipher some of the symbols that you don’t understand.

 

“Okay, I know that this would be the play button, and this is the eject, but what is the button next to it?” you muse, poking the button. It appears to be like the eject button, except it has an extra, wider rectangle on it. You press it.

 

The glassy display makes a slight clicking sound, and when you touch it, it slightly wiggles. Grabbing it, you pull it from its socket. A piece of the camera was still attached to the right side of the display.

 

“Cool!” you say, turning over the display in your hands. Chara and Asriel get beside you, looking awed as well, “A wireless glass display!”

 

“Um, guys?” Frisk calls down the aisle. Sighing, you put the camera and display back into the display case, and walk over to him.

 

As you get closer, you can feel your hairs starting to stand on end, and hear a faint buzzing near Frisk, “Agh! It’s that feeling again!”

 

“I know,” Frisk says, looking at something. You take a closer look.

 

The camcorder.

 

“Great. As always, I’m the one who needs to do this,” Chara says, grabbing the camcorder and turning to you, “Where did you find the camcorder?”

 

“In the middle of a patch of Golden Flowers about twenty minutes from the campsite,” you say.

 

“Alright,” he says, taking the crushing grip on the camcorder, sclera glowing red. Within a second, it begins flaking off small pieces that float a few inches upwards before fading out of existence. After a few seconds, Chara is holding nothing but air.

 

As his eyes stop glowing, you smile and say in your best ‘programmed’ voice “Causality fixed. Universe now won’t implode on itself due to impending paradox.”

 

“Can it, bonehead,” Chara says.

 

“Save that language for the skeletons,” you say, winking.

 

Asriel and Chara groan, while Frisk just rolls his eyes, smiling.

 

“I can’t believe that the city council just up and allowed those  _ freaks _ to be able to roam the town at will!” a shrill voice cuts through the store.

 

Frisk freezes up at the voice, and pulls you, Asriel, and Chara behind a shelf. You peek around the corner of it to check the source of the voice.

 

You see a woman of average height with blond hair. With a little cyan added to your eye, you can see that her eyes are green, but not a beautiful. Rather, they are a gross type of green, the kind that makes you want to vomit.

 

“Frisk… who is that?” you ask Frisk. You hope against your gut feeling that it isn’t who you think it is, but you know that she is who you think it is.

 

“Linda Evans,” he replies, voice slightly shaky.

 

You let out an involuntary groan, “Well boys, it appears that we’ve got a little PTA Tale on our hands.”

 

“What’s that?” Asriel asks.

 

“Alternate universe of our own where there are weekly PTA meetings, and Sans has to go in place of Mom. Downside, she’s a major bigot, and Sans usually slowly becomes insane. Upside, it is quite entertaining to watch him verbally dunk Linda and her bigoted colleagues,” you reply, turning to Asriel, “So don’t expect her to go easy on any of us just because we’re kids.”

 

“Dude, you’re talking to the former flower who did every possible scenario in the Underground just to keep himself entertained,” Asriel replies coolly.

 

You turn to Frisk, “And what makes you so cautious of her?”

 

“She always helped other students when they were being picked on, but never me. She also kept calling me by girl pronouns, just because I have longer hair than most boys, and I usually wore clothes with some amount of ‘girly’ colors,” Frisk says, pointing to one of his purple stripes, “And this is the most amount of girly colors on any of my pieces of clothing!”

 

“Oh, I definitely know that you’re a boy,” you say, “Due to… our other timelines,” you turn away, face burning with awkward embarrassment.

 

“What? Didn’t like what you saw back then?” Frisk says, raising an eyebrow cheekily.

 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” you say, wanting to get out of this conversation, “Let’s go, don’t need anything right now,” you begin pushing them towards the entrance.

 

* * *

  
  


Once out of the store, you run towards the newly built house for the royal family. You feel lucky that this store is bordering where the Monster area meets the already existing part. You rush into the house, closely followed by Frisk, Asriel, and Chara’s laughter. You run into the dining room.

 

“Mom, Frisk made me-” you begin complaining, but stop.

 

Toriel is sitting at the table with her reading glasses on, looking over what appear to be legal documents with Felix. She looks at you, and begins smiling.

 

“Greetings, my child. You got here just in time, as Felix has just helped me finish up with some legal things that should help with some… concerning things,” Toriel says.

 

The three others join your side, looking at the papers with confused faces.

 

“Like what?” you ask, curious.

 

“Like the fact that neither you nor Chara exist in legal documents,” Felix says.

 

“Oh,” you say in a disinterested voice.

 

“Don’t worry, my child. We have already fixed that, though there is still the fact that you, Frisk, and Chara do not have any, as they said, legal  _ human _ parent or guardian, to take care of them, and if we don’t provide any by this evening…” Toriel looks unable to continue.

 

“I can become their guardian,” Felix says.

 

You, Frisk, and Chara look at him. Then, you and Chara exchange looks. Apparently this was what he meant that other night by ‘Article 11.03’.

 

“Thank you,” Toriel says, dabbing the corners of her eyes.

 

“I’ll go over to the courthouse for the papers,” Felix says, standing up and leaving the room. You hear the door open, then close.

 

You turn to Toriel, “Anything else we should know?”

 

“Why, yes there is,” she answers, pulling out some papers, “One of the schools sent us papers, stating that they are now allowing Monsters. Something about ‘maintaining diversity’ or the like?”

 

“More like ‘Hey look, we’re inclusive! Come to our school instead of the rival, just because we allow them, regardless of how individuals will treat them,” Chara mutters under his breath.

 

Toriel appears to have not heard him, as she continues, “I would have loved to homeschool you, but… I believe that it would show the humans that Monsters could be trusted with human children when at home.”

 

“Sure, whatever. It has my ambassadorial approval,” you say lazily, looking at Frisk and Chara.

 

“I’m okay with it, as long as we’re together,” Frisk says, looking at you, Chara, and Asriel.

 

“I’m not going unless me and Asriel are in the same class,” Chara says, glaring the floor into submission.

 

“It’s only natural,” Toriel says, sighing.

 

“Well, I’ve got nothing against it right now, so I’ll go,” Asriel says.

 

“I guess that’s settled, then. If you’re lucky, you can go by tomorrow, and I’ll make sure you share a class. Please use your remaining money for school supplies,” she says, looking down at the papers the school sent.

 

Looking at the other three, you shrug then walk out of the house.

 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the day was rather uneventful, though thankfully Linda was gone from the store. Before bed, Frisk went down to the SAVE point (you think it was intentional to have the Monster part start at it), you went to bed, and were woken up by Toriel in the morning, as you were apparently quickly put into the school system within the day, and now you were getting ready.

 

There are two knocks on the front door as you are eating breakfast. Because Toriel is busy making breakfast, you are the one to go to the door.

 

“Who’s there?” you ask, smiling.

 

“school,” Sans says.

 

“School who?” you ask, not having heard this one before.

 

“school if i can just come in?” he replies, having his wink noticeable through his voice.

 

You open the door, with you, Toriel, and Frisk dissolving into giggles. Asriel and Chara roll their eyes.

 

Once the door is closed, Sans looks at the four of you, “now kiddos, tori just asked me to escort you to your first day of school. good for you guys, i happened to pass by the school you’re going to attend last evening.”

 

“So, I should go with you first, so that I’ll be able to shortcut us there for the rest of elementary school?” you say.

 

“yep, bud, though you’ll need to have the rest of your  _ pun _ cakes once you get back, before paps gets the scent of them,” he says.

 

You smile, taking his hand. You walk through the door, and end up at the school. You grab Sans’ shoulder, but he grabs your arm.

 

“kiddo, there’s another reason i wanted to take you first. just for a moment, i need to tell you something,” Sans says.

 

“Well what are you waiting for? Tell me, please,” you say.

 

“determined, arentcha?” he chuckles, “well, i checked the TIME in anomaly mode, and apparently a few have sprung up in the timeline. just wanted to let you know.”

 

“Good to know?” you say, unsure on how to respond.

 

“great, now let’s get you back home,” Sans says, putting your hand on his shoulder.

 

You glitch yourselves back home, and finish your breakfast. Once you’re finished and ready with your school stuff, Toriel kisses you all on the cheek.

 

“Ready?” you ask Frisk, holding your hand out.

 

“Yes,” he says nervously.

 

You take his hand, and step forward, Sans following you with Asriel and Chara in tow.

 

* * *

  
  


By the time you exit the shortcut, you can see that the school has gotten considerably more busy, with most students already crowding by the doors. You can see a few Monsters getting near, but mainly stick with the other Monsters.

 

You and the other three walk over to the Monsters. They look scared at first at the sight of you, Frisk, and Chara, but then recognize you, allowing you to join in.

 

“see ya kiddos. and papyrus told me to tell you ‘have the greatest day, and make lots of friends’,” Sans says, waving, then shortcutting away.

 

“So, as I was saying, by how some of the humans have been saying, this is apparently one of those ‘new generation’ schools by their standards,” one bat Monster says, unamused.

 

“How do you mean?” you ask, curious.

 

“Haven’t you looked at the flier?” you shake your head, “We’ll be in a different classroom every day, with different teachers and subjects each day of the week.”

 

“Really?” you ask skeptically, “How would that work with the younger students?”

 

“Don’t know, but I’ve also heard that all Monsters will be in the same class, mixed in with humans to, quote, promote diversity, unquote,” they respond.

 

“Ugh,” Chara says in disgust, “School was so much simpler in my time.”

 

“Mine as well,” you quietly state.

 

The bell rings, and everyone is allowed to enter. On a wall across from the doors, there is a large post with names on it, apparently for new students. You run your finger down the list.

 

“Us, us, us…” you murmur, stopping at the Monsters section, “Yes! There we are!”

 

You point your finger at your names, all in the same class.

 

“Now to see who our first teacher is,” Chara grumbles, clearly unhappy with the system.

 

“Alright, so we’re right…” Frisk says, but abruptly drops his arm, jaw dropping in an ‘are you freaking serious?’ way. You look at your first class of the week, jaw dropping as well.

 

Room 209: Linda Evans, English.

 

You stomp off towards her classroom, furious. The others catch up with you.

 

“Well, this should be entertaining in the least,” Asriel says.

 

“That stupid teacher will regret what she said yesterday,” Chara says through grit teeth.

 

“I-I don’t think we should anger her too much, or else things could end badly, and not only for the four of us,” Frisk says nervously.

 

“Oh ho! But even if she has more authority over us, we have something in massive amounts that she can’t hold a candle to,” you say angrily.

 

“What would that be?” he asks, still nervous.

 

You turn around, Determination glinting in your eyes, “Determination. If we have to, we shall make sure every Monster in this class passes.”

 

Frisk gulps slightly as you enter the room, nodding.

 

* * *

  
  


You take your seats as the holographic projector tells you, with you, Chara, Asriel, and Frisk sharing two tables.

 

Once the bell rings, Linda enters the room, ushering the last of the students into the room. She then takes her place at the front of the class.

 

“Hello there… class,” she says, gritting her teeth at the sight of the few Monsters in the room, “I am Mrs. Evans, and I will be your english teacher for this year. Now, say hello back to me.”

 

“Hello Mrs. Evans,” everyone says in the class, except for the four of you. She does not appear to notice, or even care, that you didn’t repeat, as she immediately begins roll call.

 

She first does the humans, then the Monsters, then the four of you last. She appears to be prejudiced against the four of you the most, considering that she says them with more prejudice than the other Monsters.

 

“Asriel… Dreemurr?” she says.

 

“Here,” Asriel says, raising his hand.

 

“Chara Dreemurr?” Linda says, sounding as if she wondered if she has heard his first name before.

 

“Nope,” he says, crossing his arms on his chest.

 

“John… Andrews?” she continues, eyeing the Souls with severe dislike.

 

“Here,” you say, putting your excess hair behind your ears.

 

Linda looks at the list one last time, and smiles maliciously, “Miss Frisk?”

 

Several of the human classmates snicker, having apparently known him before the Underground. Frisk doesn’t answer, as he is trying to hide in shame.

 

You decide to save him from his shame, “Actually,  _ Linda _ , Frisk is a boy. If you would pay about two seconds worth of attention, you would notice that he lacks all of the bodily features a girl would have.”

 

Linda looks taken aback at your mention, but smiles as sweetly as she could, “Why, you just don’t understand, do you? No boy would have as long of hair as she have, so she must be a girl. Anyway, why should I take a boy with a holographic heart shirt seriously? Also, I’m Mrs. Evans, to you.”

 

“Not to the four of us,” Chara speaks up, “And, just by looking at me, am I a boy, or a girl? Because, evidently to you, long hair means a girl.”

 

Linda scoffs, “Judging by your attitude, you are a boy, along with your more… masculine, features.”

 

“Oh, HECK no!” Asriel shouts, slamming his palms on the table, “No one messes with any of my brothers like that!”

 

Linda glares at Asriel as she says, “You mean your brothers and sister.”

 

“That’s what he’s talking about! Don’t mess any of us, or else you will deeply regret what comes soon,” Chara snarls.

 

Linda attempts to intensify her glare as she says “Now, the school might not allow disciplinary action during the first week of school, but I will not tolerate such behavior in my class!”

 

You snort in amusement, “Are… are you attempting to intimidate us with a glare?” you look at Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, “I think that she’s attempting to intimidate us with glares.”

 

The four of you begin laughing.

 

“Why are you laughing about my glaring?” Linda growls.

 

“It’s because… once you have received a glare from Mom, every other glare just feels so… lackluster,” Chara says, wiping tears from his eyes.

 

“Argh! You four have delayed the learning of this class for long enough. Now just be quiet, for the rest of the day,” she grits through her teeth.

 

The four of you take your sweet time calming down, and when you do, you slowly take out your items, and then class continues almost normally.

 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the morning continues almost better than you thought it could. That is, if you consider Linda ignoring the four of you to be an improvement over the beginning. In your opinion, it was a very huge leap in the right direction, even though your grades might suffer in the long run.

 

You and the others are currently at lunch. Everyone from Monster families, which comprises roughly one-eighth of the fourth-grade class you were in, obviously almost entirely Monsters, was grouped together in one corner.

 

You take out the lunch Toriel packed for you, and everyone at the table does the same.

 

When you look in your bag, you pump your fist. It contains a turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple, a small thermos (and by the scent of it, it’s Golden Flower Tea, no doubt a gift from Asgore), and a slice of cinnamon-butterscotch pie, with a note that says that it’s a first day of school gift. Everything is made with Monster ingredients, no doubt, for bathroom convenience of you, Frisk, and Chara.

 

While you eat, you hear some of your human classmates talking in whispers among themselves. You pay them no mind as you take a sip of tea.

 

One of the students walks up to you.

 

“What do you want?” you ask politely.

 

“I heard you have a rare kind of drink. Let me try it out, or else you’ll regret it,” he says in a hushed voice.

 

“Nope, this isn’t for people like you,” you say, taking a bite of your apple.

 

The boy narrows his eyes, and snatches it from your grip. You don’t make an attempt to get it back, as this could teach him a lesson.

 

“It’s your funeral. And my saliva,” you say, smirking.

 

He takes a sip of it, but his eyes widen in immense dislike, spitting it out all over the place. He throws it back to you with a horrified face. You wipe off the mouthpiece vigorously.

 

“How do you stand that? It tasted  _ so _ horrible. You must be a  _ freak _ if you think that it tastes good!” the boy says.

 

“Then I’ll gladly be a freak. Now, run along,” you say as the bell for recess begins.

 

You walk out to the small field recess takes place in. There isn’t much to do out here that interests you, so you just hang around with Frisk, Chara, and Asriel for the time of recess. Most of the human students stay away from you, though one group sticks close to you, looking at you shadily.

 

Once the bell to signal the end of recess comes, Asriel and Chara run off inside, Frisk walks beside you.

 

“Ready for three hours of being ignored?” he asks you, to which you nod.

 

A hand roughly grabs your shoulder, causing you to stop and turn around.

 

It’s the boy who was a big enough idiot to try out your tea. And it appears that his mouth has slightly swollen from the effects of it.

 

You turn to Frisk, “Go on to class. Don’t need the two of us to be late rather than one. I’ll deal with them.”

 

Frisk looks at you worriedly, biting his lip, but nods, turning around and running off.

 

You turn back to the boy, who is now surrounded by his friends, “Now… what do you want? As we all need to go to class right now.”

 

The boy, obviously the leader, begins speaking, voice slightly muffled from slight swelling, “You gave me a drink that hurt me as well as tasting horrible, so now you’ll pay for it.”

 

He throws a punch, in which you easily sidestep it, “Yeah, so? It’s your own fault that you were a big enough idiot to take something you didn’t own, much less knew the effects. Monsters, along with my brothers, can drink it safely. People like you… nah.”

 

“My daddy said that every Monster and sympathizer should go back to where they came from,” the boy says as he throws another punch.

 

You dodge it again, “Really, you still call your dad ‘daddy’? What are you, six?” you snipe.

 

“Shut up!” he yells, throwing a punch that you don’t need to dodge in his rage.

 

“Make me,” you retort.

 

Several arms from behind you grab your arms and shoulder, one punch to your back.

 

“Crap, should’ve seen that coming,” you say. You can’t use your Soul magic or glitches to get out, or else there could be panic.

 

In other words, Sans would say that you’re  _ boned _ .

 

The other kids shove you to the brick wall and hold you against it, causing a small bruise to begin forming on your cheek.

 

“Now, you’re gonna sit there until we’re finished with you,” the boy says into your ear.

 

“More like stand here,” you quip.

 

One punch to your back, “That’s for making a stupid joke!”

 

Another punch to your back, “That’s for insulting me about my daddy!”

 

A punch to your shoulder, “That’s for giving me that stupid drink!”

 

A punch to your lower back, “That’s for being a Monster lover!”

 

Another punch to your upper back, “That’s for having such a  _ stupid _ holographic shirt design!”

 

You can hear his arm pull back for another punch, but hear footsteps. You smile, “Looks like your luck has run dry.”

 

You immediately regret saying that, as a hand clenches around your upper arm tightly, and you feel yourself tossed several yards in the opposite direction of the wall. You change the color of your Soul to blue without revealing it, so that you’ll land safely. Even then, the dirt still scrapes against your skin harshly.

 

The person who did this yells (sounds synthesized, in the way to conceal an identity) to the kids to get back into school. Not wanting to end up like you, they comply, running to the front.

 

The person is also wearing vantablack robes and a vantablack mask, the only colored thing are orange markings next to their eyes.

 

“You!” they yell at you, “You helped bring the Monster scum up here!”

 

“Yeah, so? Stop being so dramatic,” you say in a low voice.

 

That was the wrong thing to say, as they appear aggravated, and do something you never saw anyone from the Surface do.

 

They summon their Soul, a bright orange.

 

You decide to throw all caution out the window as you bring your own Soul out into the open, and initiate a Fight.

 

Megalovania begins playing, as the Fight starts in full. Your opponent is black with a thin white outline.

 

“No! We use my Theme, alright!” they say, and appear to be in deep concentration. Then the Theme changes.

 

It sounds heavily medieval, yet has a malevolent intent woven into the notes.

 

“Sheesh, buddy. You have an awful taste in music,” you say offhandedly. Whoops, that somehow counted as your turn.

 

Their turn begins, but their options aren’t visible to you, just appearing as normal boxes. The bullet box surrounds you, then shrinks to a size you could barely move in.

 

“Well this is uncomfortable,” you mumble.

 

Your turn begins, so you navigate to Check your opponent.

 

**Unknown Orange Soul**

 

**100 ATK 50 DEF**

 

***You don’t know how, but they are a magic user as well.**

 

“Can we just not Fight right now? I’ve got a class to go to and be ignored at,” you say.

 

“No, this must happen now, while you are still vulnerable,” they say, and raise their arms.

 

Brick walls appear around you, and the person punches you. Hard.

 

You fly into one of the brick walls, and are knocked out of breath. They grab you and slam you into another wall, and another. You feel lucky that human Fights in this case don’t do as much physical damage as normal fights.

 

Your turn comes again, and you quickly navigate to Flee, “Nice to spar, but I’ve got to go.”

 

Your opponent’s eyes flash orange, and suddenly, the Flee option breaks. Your eyes widen in shock and horror. You’re really screwed.

 

“Now, I’ve got orders to only incapacitate you, but if you continue, much worse will come,” they say.

 

The person picks you up, and you’re too short of breath to resist. They set you on the ground on your back. You’re wondering what they’re doing.

 

They position your legs at an angle against the wall, and lift a leg. You realize their intention a couple of seconds too late.

 

**_CRUNCH!_ **

 

The wet sound of your left femur breaking cleanly in half, combined with the amount of force they used to break it makes you release the single loudest, most bloodcurdling scream in your life. Not even your deaths by Flowey were this painful!

 

Apparently your opponent is not finished with you, as they break your femur twice more, shatter your patella, and cleanly break your tibia and fibula, still on your left leg. You feel like they also misaligned your tendons to increase your pain.

 

You are apparently too damaged to continue, as they crouch down, and whisper into your ear, saying “This is a message to the Monsters from the Seven Magicians.  _ Go back to where they came from, or suffer the consequences _ .”

 

You only give a feeble whimper in response.

 

Your opponent appears satisfied, as they walk off, the world fading back in.

 

You don’t see where they walk off to, and nor do you care at this point. The pain is too much to bear at this point, and you’re exhausted. You don’t even care if you have have a concussion.

 

You fall unconscious from the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not regret shoving a bit of PTA Tale into this, and I don't think I ever will. Do you think I should go further than just Linda, to have more of PTA Tale elements, even going as far as the actual meetings?
> 
> Also, did anyone groan in sympathy for John when I wrote for his femur being snapped cleanly in half, and his other left leg bones as well, into several pieces? If not, imagine if that were you instead of John
> 
> As for other things, you have learned that there is are main villains in this, as what would be the point if there's no good villain to hate, much less ones with magic as well?
> 
> Also, in case you were conflicted, Frisk in this is legitimately a boy. Linda is just being Linda, and by that, thinking that her opinion is law. As what John means by knowing Frisk as a boy because of other timelines- well, just because the world will inevitably Reset doesn't mean you shouldn't bathe at least a few times. Frisk ran out of the skelebros' washroom (as even skeletons would want to be clean) wearing absolutely nothing as a joke to John, and John accidentally caught a glimpse of it in a few timelines
> 
> That is all I want to write in this for now, so see you next chapter!


	9. All That Matters is the Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go to the hospital for your entirely broken and shattered leg

You regain consciousness to the sound of screaming sirens and the feeling of your left leg in a strapped position, so as to make sure it moves as little as possible. Your leg is feeling extremely painful, so you grit your teeth against the pain.

 

You open your eyes, watering from the pain, and look down at it.

 

Someone, you suspect to be a paramedic, is busy making sure any small movements of the ambulance you’re in don’t aggravate your swollen leg. They appear to have not noticed that you have woken up yet.

 

“The kid is lucky that teacher saw him through the window,” they say, apparently to the driver, “If she hadn’t been there to see him lying on the ground, then he might have not made it.”

 

“I’m surprised he even made it at all; all bones in the left leg cleanly broken several times, shattered patella, and several torn tendons. He’s lucky none of the bones in his foot are even remotely broken,” the driver replies.

 

You decide to make them aware of your consciousness, gritting through the pain “Well, I have a  _ tendon _ -cy to be more Determined than I appear. No  _ bones _ about it.”

 

The paramedic gives an involuntary snort, and looks to you, “How much of that did you hear? ‘Cause many patients have done that before, which usually ends up them hearing things they did not wish to hear.”

 

You say with a pained expression (from the pain, of course), “I heard something about a teacher spotting me through a window, and the possibility that if I wasn’t spotted , then I could’ve died minutes later. Also that I should’ve died from my injuries.”

 

“Sorry!” the driver says.

 

“None taken,” you reply.

 

The paramedic studies your face, “You know… even through all that pain, you’re the most calm person, hell, KID, to have heard that they could’ve died, yet you’re sitting there almost calmly with a leg that’s in several cleanly broken pieces.”

 

You can feel the ambulance begin to slow down, “Well it’s better than dwelling on it in a negative light,” you reply.

 

A speed bump is hit, which causes you to yelp in pain as the second bump is hit.

 

“Careful! We don’t want to aggravate his injury further!” the paramedic yells to the front as you wince in pain, new tears coming.

 

“It’s not like I have any control over how much it bounces when going over the bump!” the driver yells back, ambulance coming to a stop.

 

The back of the ambulance opens, and you see multiple medics rushing around. One of them comes up to the back of it, pulling up a wheelchair with the left side having a raised glass leg rest to no doubtedly keep your shattered leg straight.

 

“Please get into the chair, and do not make sudden movements,” they say.

 

“Wow, I did not know,” you monotonously say, rolling your eyes.

 

“Just get on the chair,” they reply.

 

You comply, and when settled, the chair immediately begins moving forward, and you enter through the doors.

 

After passing a few rooms, you ask “Where are we going? To the x-ray room?”

 

One of the doctors gives you a funny look, “Where have you been for the past decade? X-Rays were phased out years ago. We now use something much more effective, and easier to use, not to mention safer.”

 

“Oh,” you say, looking down awkwardly.

 

Your wheelchair is brought into the next room you come up to, and what is inside of it confuses the heck out of you, as there is a table, with cushioning, in the middle, and a strange machine above the table. Next to the table is a strange console with many dials, knobs, switches, and screens, with one big one in the center.

 

“We are going to raise the chair and set you down on the table, okay?” one doctor says to you.

 

“I get it, okay?” you say irritably, disliking being treated like a child sometimes.

 

The doctor nods, pressing a button on the back of your chair. The seat immediately raises, and when you’re slightly above the table, you are lifted off of the chair, and onto the table.

 

“Now, what you need to do is lie down as still as you can manage, and take deep breaths, alright?” they say.

 

You just give a terse nod, lying down and closing your eyes.

 

* * *

  
  


“The boy is lucky to even be alive,” one doctor is telling Felix in the next room not so quietly, “His left femur is in four cleanly-broken pieces, tibia and fibula in several pieces, and don’t even ask us how we managed to locate his kneecap… or what’s left of it, that is.”

 

After doing scans, you were escorted to another room, and your legal guardian, in this case, Felix, was contacted. They put you into a patient bed while they waited for him to arrive, and in the meantime, you were waiting for decisions to be made.

 

“It doesn’t surprise me one bit that the kid survived. He’s too Determined to let anything that severe kill him; in fact, I’m more surprised he got as hurt as he much as he did,” Felix replies. He used ‘Determined’ in the way only those who know about Soul traits would say it.

 

“I don’t think you understand how severe his leg injuries are. He’s lucky to even be here right now,” the doctor replies.

 

“Yeah, well unless you’ve got anything else to say, I’ve got to talk with John,” he says, opening the door to the room you’re in. You can hear the doctor give an exasperated groan.

 

“Hello, John,” Felix says as he turns to face you.

 

“Sup,” you reply, unsure on how to proceed.

 

“If you don’t mind, but before I call anyone, I want to ask you a question,” he says.

 

“Sure?” you say, knowing where this is going.

 

“Alright then, please tell me: How did this happen?” he says, looking directly into your eyes.

 

You gulp nervously, “It was the end of recess, and some kids wanted to beat me up because their leader was being stupid by drinking some of the Golden Flower Tea Dad gave me to have with my lunch.”

 

“Yeah, that was kind of stupid, but continue please,” Felix says.

 

“Well, I dodged the first few hits, but his lackeys used my distraction to grab me and pin me to the wall, where the leader began hitting me repeatedly on my back as hard as he could. Truthfully, they hardly even hurt,” you say.

 

“Naturally. Go on.”

 

“Then I heard footsteps. I thought they were there to help me, but they actually grabbed me, and threw me several yards away.”

 

Felix’s eyes widen in alarm, “How?! Who were they?! What were they wearing?!”

 

You shake your head slowly, “I don’t know, because they were wearing vantablack robes, with orange markings next to their eyes. All I know is that they knew magic, had a Brave Soul, and managed to change the Theme of the Fight to their own.”

 

Felix looks slightly dazed, “So you got into a Fight, which led up to…” he points at your left leg, unable to continue.

 

You nod, “Their last words before ending the Fight was that they had a message to the Monsters from… I think they said the Seven Magicians, about going back to where they came from, or pay the consequences.”

 

He nods gravely, and stands up, “I’m sorry, but this is a lot to take in, so I must leave for a bit,” he walks to the door, “I’ll let the front know to let any Monster you request to your room.”

 

Felix opens the door, turning to you, “I’ll decide on what to do with you later, but in the meantime, you’ll have to call them yourself.”

 

He leaves the room, and with that, silence fills the room.

 

* * *

  
  


A few minutes later, you are dialing Toriel’s phone number, and putting your phone up to your ear. She picks up after a few rings.

 

“Hello?” she answers.

 

“Hi, Mom,” you reply, a little nervous on what to say.

 

“Oh! Greetings, my child,” she says, but then changes to a more concerned tone, “Well, aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

 

“Well, about that,” you give a humorless chuckle, “I got out of class like an hour ago for lunch, but for circumstances I couldn’t control I am no longer in class for the rest of the day, apparently.”

 

“And what would the reason for that be?” she questions.

 

“I nearly got into a fight at the end of recess, but then I got into a Fight,” you tell her, “Soul and everything.”

 

“Well, I know that you’re excellent at dodging, and you could’ve just as easily fled,” Toriel says, though you can hear a hint of worry in her voice.

 

“That’s the thing; they made my bullet box too small to dodge from anything, and they destroyed my Flee option,” you mention.

 

“What?!” she says in a shocked voice.

 

“Yep,” you say, “And the events of the Fight… well, I’m just going to say that I’m currently at the hospital awaiting treatment.”

 

“WHAT?!” she shouts, “You stay where you are, I’m coming to see you myself.”

 

“Well I can’t really go anywhere else, considering what happened during the Fight,” you mumble into the phone, “Felix also notified the hospital staff to let any Monster I request to my room.”

 

“Right, well, I’ll see you once I get there. Goodbye, my child,” and with that, she hangs up.

 

Not wasting any time, you dial your next contact. It picks up on the second ring.

 

“HELLO, THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS SPEAKING. PLEASE STATE YOUR PURPOSE AND URGENCY, AND I SHALL BE THERE BEFORE I COULD SAY ‘NYEH HEH HEH!’” Papyrus answers.

 

“Hello, Papyrus. I need you to come to me, as I could use a little bit of cheering up right now,” you say, smiling.

 

“OH, IT IS YOU HUMAN JOHN! THOUGH I NEED TO ASK… WHY DO YOU NEED MY SERVICES OF BEING ABLE TO CHEER YOU UP? AREN’T YOU AT SCHOOL?” he asks.

 

“Well about that… I got into a Fight at the end of recess, which ended in some… bone-related injuries,” you say, wincing.

 

You could practically hear eyeballs popping out of his sockets as he says “GASP! YOU ARE ONLY A BABYBONES COMPARED TO US! BUT FEAR NOT! BEING FELLOW SKELETONS, I WILL GET SANS TO STOP NAPPING, AND SEE IF GASTER WILL BE ABLE TO STOP HIS PROJECTS LONG ENOUGH TO VISIT.”

 

“Okay, see you then!” you say. Papyrus hangs up with a ‘Nyeh heh heh!’

 

You exhale loudly, as if you were holding your breath, which you suppose you were.

 

A minute passes, then a bubble of darkness appears in the corner of the room. After a few seconds, the bubble pops, revealing Sans, Gaster, and Papyrus.

 

Sans walks up to you, “well, we’re here, kid. need to tell us anything?”

 

“Yes,” you say, pulling the image the scans showed from your inventory (out of sight of the doctors, obviously), and turn it to them, “This.”

 

The skelebros visibly and greatly flinch at the sight of all of the clean breaks and fractures in your leg, even though your skin doesn’t reveal them other than healing bruises. You understand their reaction.

 

Sans’ sockets have blackened at the sight of the image, “kid, you don’t know how lucky you are to be a human. if it wasn’t for all of that squishy stuff surrounding you… you’d be a goner as a skeleton.”

 

Gaster has turned his sockets green and cyan, looking at your leg and lightly running some fingers down it in an examining fashion, “Fascinating, on the strength of human bones. They appear to be able to take a lot of damage before succumbing to damage, as evidenced by the areas least touched.”

 

You smirk, “Hey, at least Sans didn’t tell me to break a leg before leaving us at school this morning.”

 

Papyrus groans while Sans awkwardly chuckles, with Gaster rolling his eye lights.

 

“BROKEN BONES ARE NOTHING TO JOKE ABOUT! AS SANS SAID, YOU ARE VERY LUCKY TO BE HUMAN, OR ELSE THINGS COULD’VE ENDED UP… BADLY,” Papyrus says.

 

“Excuse me, but may you let me in?” Toriel’s voice drifts through the door.

 

“sure, tori,” Sans says, opening the door with blue magic.

 

“Oh, I did not know you would be here, and even before me,” she says, closing the door behind her.

 

“Hi, Mom,” you say.

 

“Greetings, my child. Asgore said he will come later, as soon as the others get back from school, so they will not come home to an empty house,” Toriel says, before getting to the point, “Now, if I may ask, why are you here if your Fight ended badly?”

 

“This,” you say, showing her the image of your broken leg bones.

 

At first, she looks confused, but then horrified, with the face she’d usually wear if she somehow manages to kill Frisk in the game.

 

“Oh, my child,” she says, embracing you in a hug while being careful to not move your leg, “Who would do such a thing, and to a child, no less?”

 

You think of something to say, “Mom, can you… attempt to use healing magic? On my leg?”

 

Toriel pulls away from the hug, wiping some tears from her eyes, “I… I suppose I can try to do that. It’s the least I can do.”

 

She moves to your leg, and prepares her magic. You give her an encouraging nod, which signals her to begin. You can feel the magic connect with the ends of the fragments, and close your eyes to wait for the healing to begin.

 

You wait.

 

You are still waiting.

 

You are waiting yet more.

 

You open your eyes to see a very confused Toriel.

 

“I do not understand. I can feel them latch on, but they aren’t connecting with each other,” she says, brow furrowing.

 

“I may have a theory,” Gaster says, “When healing magic is used on a human, it repairs them by bringing it back together using the existing area around it as a help to how it should be, correct?” Toriel nods, “Well, it may be because the magic knows that it shouldn’t be like that, yet it doesn’t know where to go, and where to end, so it just stays there.”

 

“Oh,” Toriel says sadly, dissipating the magic, “I guess he’ll just have to wait until it can heal on its own.”

 

“Actually,” a voice says through the open door, and a doctor walks in, “There is a way to accelerate the healing process to mere hours, though for a hefty price.”

 

You quickly produce gold from your pocket, and toss it to the doctor, “What is it?”

 

She puts away the gold for the hospital’s use, and clears her throat, “Well, it is an extremely new procedure that has only been used a few times in the past few months, but it has had promising results thus far. There is no waiting list at the moment, so you can be done by this evening, though you will need to stay at the hospital for the night so we may monitor you to make sure it would be successful. And if it is, then you’ll be able to walk out of here before school even starts.”

 

“Please do it,” you almost beg.

 

The doctor smiles, “I’ll get your legal guardian on the line, and if he approves, then we can start immediately.”

 

* * *

  
  


The past several hours were exhausting.

 

Soon after the school day ended, Frisk, Asriel, Chara, and Asgore visited you in the hospital, and thankfully after the procedure was completed. Chara was extremely pissed off at the fact you had to go off to the hospital, and he vowed to personally find whoever broke your leg and beat the hell out of them. Frisk and Asriel just shrugged.

 

As for the actual procedure, you didn’t understand much of it, but the gist of it was that they injected some sort of green miracle liquid into the areas surrounding your broken bones, which would accelerate the healing to the point where you could walk in a few hours. Thankfully, while it was still in testing phase before becoming public, the chances of getting an uncontrolled mutation (like cancer) were almost null.

 

Visitor hours restricted the amount of time you could spend with everyone, but at least there was enough time for them to help keep you balanced to test the strength of your newly repaired leg bones. You felt a bit lopsided from it, but you would take that feeling any day if it meant you could leave without a cast.

 

You were now resting in the bed provided for you, with one of the scanners nearby to scan every now and then. You are about a minute from falling asleep, though you now feel a dull aching from your left leg. You aren’t concerned, as they told you that it was a common side effect from the bones, ligaments, and tendons coming back together.

 

Your last thoughts are that, despite all the pain from today, Frisk did not have to resort to Loading, because you feel like it would have ended roughly similarly.

 

You luckily begin to have a lucid dream, but not one you could control. You are in a black room, not unlike the Angel of Death section of the Asriel. You look around, and soon, you find them.

 

Everyone close enough to you is standing before you, white pixelations covering their heads in the exact same way as the Lost Souls.

 

The first in line is Toriel. She steps up to you, “You left me all alone in the Ruins, while you had to go off and play hero, leaving only a poorly explained note,” she summons her staff.

 

You attempt to talk to her, but your vocal cords won’t work.

 

“This is what you deserve,” she says, and shoots a fireball from her staff at your leg.

 

You attempt to dodge, but your legs are locked in place, so you take the hit. The pain is a lot, but it dulls down soon enough.

 

Toriel walks into the darkness, and Sans takes her place, “you subjected us to countless timelines of torture, and tearing us from our happy endings. the worst part is that you did it of your own free will, with no regrets during that time. i judge you to be guilty,” and with that, the pixelation becomes cyan, yellow, and purple, and several bones aim for your left leg. The pain is even greater than Toriel’s and lasts longer, but still dulls back into the dull ache.

 

Sans walks off, and is replaced by Papyrus, “DON’T GET ME WRONG, I STILL LIKE YOU, BUT… I DON’T THINK THAT WE COULD BE FRIENDS ANY LONGER. YOU CONTINUALLY DID VIOLENCES AGAINST ALL OF US, AND YOU DO NOT KNOW IF YOU REGRET IT. FOR ALL THOSE TIMES... I HATE TO SAY THIS, BUT I CAN NO LONGER BELIEVE IN YOU,” his pixelations becomes orange, blue, and green, and swings a large bone at your leg. The pain is now like a small fire, but not so intense as one. The pain takes even longer to subside, but not as much as before.

 

Gaster takes Papyrus’ place, “I brought you into this universe to make better of your sins against everyone here, but it appears that my brothers have already judged you guilty. For that, you must leave the multiverse. For good,” the pixelation becomes yellow and orange, an orange blaster appearing, and blasts your left leg. The fiery feeling in it now feels constant, and hurts more.

 

Now Undyne, “When I first became besties with you, I thought you were awesome! Especially with the weird thing about taking fatal damage to the Soul without dying. But, if the others are right, then as my duty as Captain of the Royal Guard, I must defeat you for the sake of my friends!” several Undying-type spears stab you in the leg. The burning of your leg feels painful now, but not overly.

 

Now Alphys, “When I first saw you on screen, I wanted to report you to the king. But, as you know, watching someone on the screen makes you want to root for them. I may have not had any regrets of that back then, but I do now, from the information you and they have given me here. So goodbye,” and she sends electricity to spaz out your leg.

 

Asgore. “I have long thought that I needed to wait for the last Soul to fall so that Monsters may destroy the humans and live on the Surface in peace. I do not regret calling off the war ever since I met you, but I now regret aiding in teaching you the magic you know as of now. I know I cannot kill you, but if it keeps the rest of the world safe from a being like you, then I shall spend the rest of time fighting you,” he summons his trident, and swipes your leg.

 

Asriel, Felix, and Chara appear before you.

 

“We’re very sorry… well, except maybe Chara, but we need to rid the world of your threat.”

 

Chaos Sabers slice at your leg.

 

“It’s technically the right thing to do, and you can’t stop it. You’re a massive threat, in other words.”

 

Blue magic causes your left leg to crack painfully.

 

You struggle in vain to move out of your position.

 

“You must have misunderstood. SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?!”

 

A red slash flies at your leg.

 

By this time, you are nearly on the verge of tears. Partially from the indescribable pain in your left leg, and partially from the emotional hurt they’re doing against you. You know that they might not say these things in real life, but these are painfully accurate portrayals of how they would react in such a situation.

 

And it hurts nonetheless.

 

Frisk is the last one to step up to you, head looking at you up and down, as if he was checking you for the first time, even though the pixelation is still over his face.

 

“I have forgiven you for the things you have done to me before your entry to this universe, as I have no memory of them. What I cannot forgive you for is what you have done to me after your arrival here. You have not done enough for me when the timelines were out of my control. You did not comfort me in the timeline before my first genocide, and when I did do it, you did nothing until the Judgement Hall. And for that, I am the final executioner. I sentence you to forever hold these memories as a reminder that you are only an outsider, and can never truly be one of us," he pauses, "and I regret the fact that I ever thought of you as my brother.”

 

Frisk takes out his trusty stick, walks up to you, and jabs it as hard as he could into below your knee.

 

* * *

  
  


“AHHH!!!” you scream your lungs out, clutching your left leg tightly.

 

The pain is indescribable, but the closest you could get to is it being doused in gasoline, lit on fire, dunked into battery acid, and being vigorously rubbed against rough pavement, simultaneously. The pain doesn’t appear to be going away, either. In fact, it is appearing to intensify.

 

Your persistent screams have apparently woken up at least half of the hospital, because some doctors are hurrying into your room, and the sight of you clutching your leg sends them scurrying to the console.

 

Some doctors are attempting to get you to release your grip on your leg, to get you to lie down for a scan. But the truth is that you were holding it so tightly that it would not take anything short of the Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath to release your death grip.

 

After a few minutes of screaming yourself hoarse, you slowly unclench yourself. Not because the pain has settled down (it has still gotten worse), but because you could no longer maintain it out of extreme exhaustion. You are now just a whimpering mess.

 

When you finally lie still long enough for them to scan your leg, they appear appalled at the results, projecting it onto the wall opposite of them. Once you have the strength of both body and will, you look to your right. You can’t get the energy to widen your eyes or drop your jaw.

 

It appears to be a realtime scan of your leg. It appears to have massive dark blobs on it, where the cracks and breaks are. What you see when your eyes focus shocks you even more.

 

The blobs are the specific shade of red as Determination.

 

And they don’t appear to be slowing growth across the newly repaired bone structures.

 

Numbly, you can’t muster the energy to wonder what that means, as even the thought of thinking about it makes you even more tired, so you just close your eyes and try to not focus on the growing pain in your left leg.

 

You fall unconscious, weakly whimpering from the sheer amount of pain and exhaustion for the second time today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this chapter, folks
> 
> I decided that the dream should work as both build-up for what is discovered at the very end, along with John having to face the fears of his new life in the Undertale universe. I believe that sometimes, in order to bring out the potential of certain people, then they will have to face their flaws and hidden fears, as they won't become as best as they could and what better than scarily accurate depictions? Plus, he's the gosh darn Player of his universe, for gosh sake, so it would make sense that his hidden fears would be centered around that fact! Also, expect John to become more reclusive in the next few chapters from his nightmare
> 
> As for why by this time there are things that could massively accelerate the healing of broken bones and torn ligaments and such... well, I don't want John to be stuck in a cast for the rest of the story, as it would really hamper the things I have planned later in the story
> 
> Can you guess what is happening with John's leg? Well, if not, then I'll see you next chapter!


	10. All That Matters is the Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn about what is happening to your leg

You gain consciousness yet again, and even though you fell unconscious in extreme pain, it has subsided to a constant sharp pain throughout your entire leg. Some doctors are talking to each other nearby.

 

“His body is appearing to reject our injection, and is instead opting for another solution, albeit one we don’t know.”

 

“But, by the time we heard his screams and scanned him, his bones and ligaments were already fifty percent of that strange substance! Scans from a few minutes ago show that his leg’s bone structure has reached eighty percent that strange composition, though thankfully the ligaments show no growth into healthy tissue.”

 

You turn your head to the projected image, and sure enough, most of your bone is now red, and it is slowly but surely becoming more red. And, like they said, where your ligaments and stuff were torn, they were red, and stayed where it was.

 

“The full-body scan showed trace amounts of it across his entire body, but we dismissed it as a glitch in the scanners. Evidently, it was not a glitch, but an entirely new substance that we cannot identify. We must take samples of it as soon as possible!”

 

“Hold on, we can’t just be going around sticking syringes into patients with unknown substances in their bodies! If we begin doing that, then we could lose any trust with certain patients!”

 

“You know, I CAN hear you!” you loudly say, a hint of pain in your voice.

 

The doctors stop talking, and turn towards you, “Sorry, we were just discussing some important matters that you shouldn’t concern yourself too much about.”

 

“Ugh, can you not talk to me in such a condescending way? My leg already hurts a heck lot already, and is continuing to convert itself into a substance that none of you know of. So just tell it to me straightforward,” you raise a hand with your index finger straightened, “And please do not sugarcoat.”

 

The doctors look slightly taken aback, but recompose themselves.

 

One of them clears their throat, “Well, as you could see,” they gesture to the projected image, “Over eighty percent of your leg’s bones have converted themselves into a red substance that are not in any of the hospital’s databases. It appears to be the same color as blood, yet the scans come back… inconclusive.”

 

You squint your eyes at the image, then widen at realization of what it most likely is, “I think I know what it is.”

 

They look slightly baffled, and somewhat amused, “How would you know what that substance would be when not even we know what it is?”

 

You take out your phone to take a picture. Apparently, it is six in the morning. You turn on your camera app and take a picture of the image, messaging it to the person you know could confirm it (even if your nightmare from last night has left you rather rattled about them).

 

You turn back to the doctors, “I have a friend who has worked with this substance, and I just need her confirmation, even though I have worked with it alongside her before.”

 

The doctors look more baffled, “Wait, you have WORKED with this substance before? How would’ve someone as young as yourself been able to work with such an unknown substance?”

 

Your phone buzzes with messages, so you say as you take it out “I’ve been living with the Monsters for the past few years, underground, and their Royal Scientist has discovered it quite a while before I got there.”

 

You turn on your phone, doctors gawking, and sure enough, she has replied.

 

ALPHYS: wat is this?

ALPHYS: oh my god, whos leg is that?

SAVEscummer: mine, and just yesterday, it was broken into several pieces

ALPHYS: why didn’t you tell me?!

ALPHYS: and, aside from the obvious, how was it healed so quickly?

SAVEscummer: confusing medical procedure fixed it within a few hours, though THAT didn’t happen until a while after I fell asleep last night

SAVEscummer: also, i didn’t want to scare you

ALPHYS: fair point

ALPHYS: and ouch that mustve hurt

SAVEscummer: that’s not the worst part, as the red area IS CONTINUING TO GROW THIS VERY SECOND!

ALPHYS: that must hurt a lot!

SAVEscummer: and the doctors don’t know what it is, and need some confirmation on what it is

ALPHYS: alright, ill be on my way

ALPHYS: don’t think they’ll listen to someone who appears to be a kid anyway

 

You put away your phone, and look at the doctors, who were still gawking, some more so than others.

 

“What? If you knew what I knew, you’d act like it were normal as well,” you say.

 

One of the doctors looks you in the eye, “May we speak to your friend? And how soon?”

 

You smile, “She’s on her way here right now, so make sure she feels comfortable.”

 

The only thing you get in response is a stab of pain from your leg, which you wince and grab it.

 

* * *

  
  


A few minutes later, Alphys is escorted into the room by a mean-looking doctor, and Alphys looks like she’s about to wither under their gaze. Luckily, Undyne also enters with them. You instantly perk up at the sight of them. The nightmare might have rattled you, but it is always good to see them.

 

“Hey, punk!” Undyne says, then runs over to noogie you, “What’re you doing in here for? Alphie said that it had something to do with your leg.”

 

One doctor clears his throat, “Well, before your intrusion, we were discussing what was happening with his leg right now, as we do not know.”

 

You sigh, “First, you should know that, yesterday, I got into a Fight.”

 

Undyne looks at you, “Well, did you kick their butt for me?”

 

You shake your head, “Nope. Instead, they kicked MY butt. Couldn’t even dodge, as their first turn consisted of making the bullet box too small to dodge in.”

 

She cocks her brow, “Then what thing happened to make you need to come to here of all places?”

 

“They did  _ this _ to my leg,” you say, producing the image of your busted leg.

 

Undyne’s eye widens in first shock, then anger, “Okay, tell me what that punk looks like, and I’ll beat the HELL out of them!”

 

“U-Undyne,” Alphys says, coming over to you. Undyne appears to calm down just a bit, though you could tell that she was still fuming.

 

“Okay, okay, but… I thought humans had much more powerful bodies than Monsters,” she says.

 

“Actually,” one doctor pipes up, “Humans can and do have limits on how much physical damage their bodies can take,” he says. You mentally thank him for understanding the implications of human and Monster bodies.

 

“Which brings up our current discussion; what’s happening to his leg,” another doctor says, pulling up the projection of your leg.

 

The red area has grown a small bit, but not much. Alphys pales at the sight of it, while Undyne just looks confused.

 

“So what? His leg has just a lot of red stuff in it, so what’s the big deal?” she says.

 

“Well… we don’t know what it is, as there is nothing that matches it in our stores of information,” the doctor replies.

 

“Oh,” Undyne replies, “Well, I thought you guys were supposed to be the experts?”

 

“John,” Alphys says urgently, “M-may I see y-your Soul for a second?”

 

You nod, thinking you know where this will head, “Go ahead.”

 

“Okay,” she replies, then draws out your Soul.

 

The doctors in the room appear to be amazed at the sight of your Soul, then slightly confused when your Soul glitches out for its regular one-second intervals. Undyne and Alphys, who have known you for a few years, act like it’s no big deal.

 

Undyne looks at them when they become confused at the flickering, “What, you’ve never seen anything like it?”

 

“Wimps,” you say, smirking. She begins laughing.

 

Meanwhile, Alphys is looking between your Soul and the scan of your leg, as if comparing them. Once she is finished, she adjusts her glasses, and takes a deep breath.

 

“I think I-I know what’s happening t-to his leg,” she says.

 

“Well, what is it?” one of the doctors asks impatiently.

 

“I-it’s only a strong theory right now, but I believe th-that his body is converting h-his leg bones into Determination.”

 

* * *

  
  


“Determination? What the heck is that?” one doctor asks.

 

“Well, the gist of it is that, when humans die, their Soul,” you gesture to your own, “Comes out of their body. It will stay, floating there, until either a vessel is given, or it shatters. Determination is what keeps it there.”

 

“B-but Monsters n-naturally lack Determination, s-so their Souls shatter upon death,” Alphys says, clicking her claws together. You can tell that she’s thinking about the Amalgamates.

 

“That is, unless they’re a Boss Monster, and even then, it’ll shatter after a few seconds,” you mention.

 

The doctors who don’t really understand just nod numbly. One of them points at you, “So, that holographic design on your shirt is actually of Souls rather than hearts?”

 

“Sure, whatever you think,” you say. You just don’t want to incriminate the Monsters by saying that they’re actually the actual Souls of six dead children for the purpose of breaking free of the Underground and destroying humanity.

 

“But… why would his body convert our injections into this… Determination?” a doctor asks.

 

“Th-that depends, may I s-see what you injected h-him with?” Alphys asks.

 

They nod, go into a side room, then come out with a vial of the green liquid they injected you with. Alphys takes it, and begins studying it, taking out a scanner.

 

“Interesting… according t-to my scanner, this stuff i-is highly reactive to things that a-are magical in nature,” she says, “I believe that i-if used on someone with magical capabilities, th-then it might use the Soul’s greatest trait as a way to h-heal itself!”

 

“And because my main trait is Determination, it used Determination as a base. Still doesn’t explain why the entire leg bones are converting into it rather than only the original fractures,” you feel a sting from your leg, causing you to wince, “But it still hurts nonetheless.”

 

“Y-yeah, looks like you’re a-an exception to the r-rules yet again,” Alphys says, putting away her scanner.

 

You nod, knowing how cruel this universe can be to you. Such as the nightmare.

 

You look around, bored now, “Well, if there’s nothing left to do, then I think I’ll be off,” you say, jumping off the table.

 

You immediately regret that, considering that landing on your left leg caused a sharp pain, making your leg almost crumple from the weight you put onto it.

 

“Argh!” you shout, kneeling to keep most of your weight off of your leg, “Don’t think the pain will go away anytime soon.”

 

Undyne gets to your side, “Come on, punk! If you can befriend an entire race in three years and manage to make Asgore change his human rule, then you could deal with some pain in the injured leg!”

 

You nod, brace yourself, then slowly stand up.

 

The pain is still there, but it is not too unbearable. You take a few steps, which result in stabbing pains from leaving your left leg on the ground to take a step with your right leg. Determined to make this work, you opt for a limp instead. The pain is still throbbing from the pressure, but it is doable. You limp a few paces. There are still stings of pain with each step, but it is not as bad.

 

You turn to the two Monsters, “Well, looks like I’ll have to limp everywhere. Slower, but it can look impressive if you give the air of ‘I’ve survived something awful’.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” Undyne fist pumps the air, then turns to the doctors, “Well, if you don’t need anything else, then we’ll be off, nerds!”

 

“Actually, there is one thing you could help us later,” a doctor speaks up, “It would be about Souls, and their relevance to everyday life.”

 

“If you want information about that stuff, talk with these nerds,” she jabs a thumb in your and Alphys’ direction, to which you and Alphys nod, though Alphys does it nervously, “Other than that, see you later!”

 

Undyne grabs you and Alphys, and dashes out of the room. The last glimpse you see of them consists of several baffled faces and one doctor winking, sclera glowing green in the open eye. None of the others notice it.

 

* * *

  
  


You arrive at your house at about the time Toriel would be making breakfast for everyone. Undyne lets you down gently. She ruffles your hair.

 

“See you later, punk! And don’t let that leg beat you up too much!” she yells as she runs off with Alphys still in her grip.

 

You wave at her, smiling, then open the door to it. You smell breakfast in the process of being made, so you quietly close the door and glitch to the dining room.

 

Asriel, Chara, and Frisk are at the table, whispering about something. You knock on the doorframe, causing them to look at you.

 

“Hello there, I’m home,” you say.

 

“No duh,” Chara says, rolling his eyes.

 

Toriel enters the dining at the sound of your voice, then goes over to you, “I see that you have come back rather early, but I am glad you came back safely. Has the night gone well for you?”

 

You smile as good as you could for her, “Yes it has, except for some hiccups. But I’ve got them under control, I promise.”

 

She smiles, “That is good, my child. Breakfast will be finished in a little while, then,” Toriel goes back into the kitchen.

 

You limp up to the seat that you claimed as your own.

 

Chara, Asriel, and Frisk turn at you intently. Chara starts, “Okay, spit it out. We know that something is up.”

 

You know it is pointless to put up a facade, you just quickly get to the point, “Well, first of all, I had a nightmare about everyone I know and love coming as the Lost Souls, saying what I suspect to be fears, then using an attack on my left leg.”

 

“Yeah, we know,” Asriel says, “We had the same dreams, except from our own perspectives, with our own fears, and hitting other places.”

 

Frisk and Chara nod in unison, Frisk asking “Do you think the others had them?”

 

You shake your head, “I was brought home by Undyne and Alphys, mostly Undyne, and neither of them mentioned anything… unless it could be like the Resets, where we are the only ones who remember flawlessly, while everyone else just doesn’t get any definite memory, instead getting deja vu.”

 

Frisk crosses his arms, “Anything else you need to tell us?”

 

“I think one of the doctors was a mage, as the white of their eyes… well, eye, since they were winking, was glowing green,” you say.

 

“How many mages will we come across up here?” Chara whisper-yells.

 

“Dunno, but I would say that they think that they could come out of hiding their magic due to the appearance of Monsters,” you reply.

 

“There’s one more thing you’re not telling us,” Frisk says, arms still crossed.

 

You give an exaggerated sigh, “Fine. I may or may not have discovered that the bones in my left leg are being converted into Determination, which hurts like heck.”

 

Your three brothers stare at you.

 

“What the hell were they thinking?” Chara says, clearly angered.

 

“Relax, Chara,” you say, “I’m probably the first magic user to have ever used the injection stuff.”

 

“Yeah, how many mages could’ve they treated since they developed it a few months ago?” Asriel says.

 

Chara opens his mouth to retort, but Toriel came into the dining room with several platters of food at that moment. He cast a glare at you, one that told you that you were lucky Toriel came in.

 

As the five of you ate (Asgore usually came in a while after breakfast was finished, so he’s not here at the moment), it was an unspoken agreement between you, Frisk, Asriel, and Chara that you will speak about this later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You remember how at the end notes about how I said John will become more reclusive?
> 
> Well, I regret saying that, so instead, the entire main cast gets those nightmares! Because I honestly don't think that I can write John as becoming reclusive at this point in the timeline, considering he's better with people (completely opposite of my natural social behavior, as I hate being around people)
> 
> So yeah, about the other thing about John's leg... well, it hurts because his freaking leg bones are being turned into Determination, and in this universe, Determination is really freaking painful to have bare contact with bodily tissues. Also, John will keep this limp for the rest of the story... and any possible future installment in this series that I have already planned (backs up into more shadows)
> 
> Other than that, I don't think I can think of anything else to put here, so see you next chapter!


	11. All That Matters is the Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out some new pieces of information, then come across a news report on television

You glitch yourself, Frisk, Chara, and Asriel to school for the morning (separately, of course). People are glancing your way, and whispering behind their hands, no doubt about it being about you.

 

You pay them no mind as you limp up to the rather small group of Monsters. They turn to you at the sound of your irregular gait.

 

“Hello there, guys,” you say to them, “Anything new?”

 

“Oh, uh, hi?” one of them replies, not wanting to look you in the eye.

 

“Can you tell us what the hell everyone is whispering about?” Chara says abruptly, quickly becoming irritated by the incessant whispers around you.

 

“Oh, that. Well, uhm… did you get anymore… fliers? This morning?” they say.

 

“No we didn’t… at least we do not think so,” Frisk says, putting a finger to his chin as as he turns to you, “Did you see any papers on the porch when Undyne dropped you off?”

 

You shake your head, “No, there weren’t any, from what I can tell. Maybe it blew away in the wind?”

 

The Monsters shake their heads, “It couldn’t have. There were paperweights on all of ours, so it couldn’t have blown away.”

 

“Well, would you mind telling us what the contents of it contained?” Asriel asks.

 

The Monsters appear to become extremely uncomfortable when they begin to tell you, “Well… it said that if any Monster is seen interacting with anyone associated with you in public, then there will be ‘dire consequences’.”

 

You stare at them, “Then why are you talking to us right now?”

 

One of the more humanoid ones rubs the back of their neck, “Well, it said that we were only allowed to let you know about it, so that they could have the claim of ‘being fair’, or something like that.”

 

“Oh, they want to be fair? Because that’s TOTALLY freaking fair!” you loudly state, sarcasm oozing out of every word. You don’t care how many people hear you.

 

“Well, since we got that out of the way, I think it’s best for you guys to  _ leave _ ,” one Monster says, waving you away.

 

You turn around to see Frisk and Asriel pushing back Chara, who looked as if he wanted to hit someone.

 

Once you pull Chara around the corner, so as people couldn’t see, you take out your Soul and turn it green. The two let him go, and he begins lashing out at your shield with all he has.

 

By the time Chara runs out of steam, he is breathing heavily, “Argh! Those people who sent those things are freaking COWARDS!”

 

Asriel pats his shoulder, “Yes, we all know that whoever did that are an entire bunch of IDIOTS,” you can hear the Flowey attitude creep into his voice at the remark, “But lashing out at John’s shield won’t solve anything,” he gives a smile.

 

“Besides,” Frisk says, “They have  _ nothing _ on the four most Determined individuals that have some level of magic.”

 

“Also known as the former maniac flower, the metaphorical demon, the Player, and the Master of Time,” you say, dismissing your Soul.

 

“Not to mention that we will always remember through Frisk’s time shenanigans,” Asriel says, looking at Frisk.

 

“So,” Chara begins, still breathing heavily, though not as much, “If the people who sent the fliers want anyone to mess with, then they’ll have to go through us first,” he finishes, gritting his teeth.

 

“Though it wouldn’t explain why the other Monsters would be rather spooked by it,” Frisk mumbles.

 

You think deeply for a few seconds, then come up with a theory, “Well, we do know that most Monsters naturally lack Determination, and that Determination can represent one’s will, right?”

 

“Don’t be an idiot. Of course we know,” Chara replies.

 

You continue, “Well, due to that, they might not have enough will to resist ignoring such a vague, yet serious threat. Serious enough to be left on nearly every doorstep in the Monster part of town, anyway.”

 

“Yet I’m one exception. Care to explain that?” Asriel says, crossing his arms while looking in your direction.

 

“Yes. I made your Soul be able to handle the Determination from your flower form so that you won’t melt. Doesn’t mean your Soul will last forever after death, though,” you shrug, “Can’t let all good things be perfect.”

 

The school bell rings, in which for some reason, it causes a sting of pain to go down your leg.

 

Frisk pulls you along, and around the corner, “Come on, guys. Don’t want us to be late. There’s a chance the next class will be good enough for us.”

 

You limp alongside Frisk, Asriel, and Chara as you walk into the entrance of the school.

 

* * *

  
  


Today’s class is math, and like most Frisks you have read in fanfictions, he appears to loathe it as well. And like what the small group of Monsters said, they made sure to stay as far away from the four of you as they could, whispering amongst themselves as they complete the opening problems.

 

You agree with Frisk, as math should not be done this early in the morning. The mind is still waking up from sleep at this time for many children. As a result, the mind is less efficient in problem solving, so math problems done this early will be poorly worked on, and will have poorer grades and concentration.

 

You can hear your human classmates whispering within their own groups, but you pay them no mind as you work on the current set of problems the teacher has given you. It appears that today in math is only to check if everyone knows the content of the class. You, having been through the entire school system back in your world, knew most of the content shown in class, so you pretty much nailed most questions given to you. Frisk on the other hand…

 

“What’s thirteen times seven?” he whispers to you at lunch, working on the problems you were assigned to do before lunch started.

 

“Ninety-one,” you say, eating a sandwich.

 

“Thanks,” he replies, writing down the answer.

 

The school had a strict ‘no homework during lunch’ policy, and not even the ‘no disciplinary action during the first week’ could protect you, but that doesn’t mean that some students won’t try to do it by smuggling it poorly in their pockets and backpacks. Most people don’t even make it out of the door before a snitch would tattle on them.

 

However, you, Frisk, and Chara had the advantage of living in a magically saturated cave, along with Asriel naturally being magical, has granted you access to inventory magic, one of the most basic magics known to man and Monsterkind. The only reason you, Chara, and Asriel brought your worksheets was to compare notes, and partially to help Frisk, who was lagging behind. Luckily, no one was looking.

 

You hear Frisk give a sigh of satisfaction as he puts his work back in his inventory and says “Done!”

 

“Great,” you say as you begin eating one of your fruits, “Thought you were gonna spend all of lunch working on that.”

 

“Nope,” Frisk replies, grinning, “Too Determined to allow such a thing to happen.”

 

You roll your eyes as you take a sip of your tea. As you do, you hear some whispers behind you. You turn around and make eye contact with them, looking intensely into their eyes.

 

“Aaand, what do you think you’re talking about?” you ask.

 

“Are you drinking that… stuff?” they ask.

 

“What? Golden Flower Tea? It’s good stuff,” you say, taking another sip to prove your point.

 

They look at you as if you were insane, “How are you not being hurt by that stuff? One of the teacher’s kids said you gave him some, but now his mouth has become swollen, making him unable to come to school today.”

 

“Magic,” you say, wiggling all of your fingers at them as if sparkles were coming out of them, “And good riddance.”

 

They look at you dumbly, “That doesn’t explain anything!”

 

“Actually, it explains everything,” Asriel says. He, Frisk, and Chara are smirking.

 

The bell to recess begins, and you smirk as well, even though the sound sends pain down your leg, “Well, looks like your gawking has come to a close… for now.”

 

The four of you stand up, and go to recess. You can feel the stares, human and Monster alike, as you limp outside. The class slowly filters out of the school for recess, and since the Monsters were supposedly not supposed to be seen with you, you, Frisk, Asriel, and Chara just hung out near the entrance for the duration of recess.

 

You had closed your eyes a few minutes ago, when you feel a punch to your arm, but more of in an attention-getting way. You open your eyes, and look in the direction of your puncher.

 

It’s the kids who attempted beating you up yesterday.

 

Frisk looks apprehensive, apparently remembering them.

 

“What do you want?” you ask, not wanting to drag this on.

 

Who looks to be the former second-in-hand closes his eyes and takes a breath, then opens them back up, “We just came to say that… we’re sorry for what happened yesterday.”

 

You look at them skeptically, “Really? After what you did yesterday, you have the gained the decency to say sorry? Not that he hurt me much,” you mumble the last part.

 

“Well, he threatened to use his mother, Mrs. Evans, to make sure we don’t pass her class if we don’t listen to him,” he says, slightly biting his bottom lip.

 

You stare at him, then at his other friends. They appear to acknowledge it as well, because they all look nervous as well. You don’t think things were like this when you were still in school.

 

You look down and take a deep breath, “Alright, I’ll take your word on it. For now,” you emphasize the second part, to which they slightly nod, gulping, “Well, other than that, is there anything else you need to know or want to know?”

 

“Well yeah,” they say, “What happened after that person interrupted yesterday?”

 

You grimace, “They slammed me around and broke all the bones in my left leg.”

 

The others grimace as well, “How did it feel? And how are you still walking?”

 

One cuts in, “My aunt once took an injection a month ago to heal a broken arm, and she was able to use it by the next day. No pain, either, to this day.”

 

You wince, “Yeah, well apparently I’m an exception. My leg had… difficulties with the injection extremely early this morning, so it still hurts. Especially with shrill noises and sudden movement.”

 

As if the universe was proving your point, the bell for the end of recess rings, which makes you flinch, and combined with the already loud bell, you are yelping in pain. The other kids are looking at you, as if unsure if it’s real or faked. Shrugging, they head inside.

 

Your brothers surround you, unsure on how to proceed.

 

You hold up a hand as a signal to say that you’re okay. You straighten out, and begin limping back into the school. Chara, Frisk, and Asriel follow you.

 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the school day is rather uneventful, with your math teacher giving you several pages of homework, almost exclusively reading over content you already know along with a few pages of relatively simple math, of which you finish it relatively quickly, helping Frisk with his own along the way.

 

When the four of you are done, you go downstairs to the living room to watch the television Alphys installed last night, while you were still at the hospital. However, you do not get to choose what channel to turn it to, as Toriel walks in through the front door.

 

“Dinner will be prepared in a little while, my children. However, I would advise you to turn to the news, as Felix told me that something important will be shown as the top story of the night,” she says.

 

You are the only one who doesn’t groan at the mention of it, so you immediately turn the channel to the news, which is conveniently starting.

 

The anchor people are talking about things that you don’t care about, but they quickly change to another camera outside of the station, and you are quite surprised to see Felix standing in front of the store you went to a couple of days ago for stuff to buy.

 

“Mom, Felix is on T.V.!” you shout to the kitchen.

 

“Oh?” Toriel says as she walks into the living room, “I know he has told me something important will happen, but I did not know that he meant himself.”

 

“Wonder where this is going,” Chara mutters under his breath, but you quickly shush him.

 

“Hello, Ebott’s Shadow. Some of you might not recognize me, but I am Felix Leben, a field biologist, and I, or we in this case, have some very important things to tell you,” he says.

 

“Huh? What is this that you’re watching?” you hear, and Asgore walks into the room.

 

“The news,” you say, not taking your eyes off of the screen.

 

“Oh. Well, that’s good to hear. It is very important to know what is going on on the Surface now that we’re up here again. But if you may excuse me, I think I will…” Asgore says, but you could see through the translucent reflection that Toriel has given him a stern look, which says that he is going to watch with the rest of you whether he likes it or not, “Okay, I think that I can watch with you as well. I should know what’s going on as well.”

 

You couldn’t blame him, considering that even though the two have somewhat made up and became slight friends again, there is still heavy tension between them. Part of the reason is that he helped with your training and changed the human rule somewhat. Another part is the fact that Asriel and Chara were back, though you all know that it wouldn’t be like before Chara’s plan.

 

“What are the important things you wanted to talk about?” the interviewer asks Felix.

 

“Well, we all got those fliers about staying away from the Monster’s royal family and close friends, right?” Felix asks them, to which they nodded, “Well, to start, you should know that the group calls themselves the Seven Magicians, and they’re not to be trusted.”

 

You can hear Asgore and Toriel stiffen at the mention of the group.

 

“Seven Magicians? What organization on earth would have such a childish name?” the interviewer replies.

 

“The same organization that trapped the Monsters in their underground prison over a thousand years ago,” Felix answers.

 

“I… I did not know that such individuals would go on to make such a hate-filled group,” Toriel says, hand over her mouth.

 

“And how would you know that?” the interviewer asks.

 

“Because. My associates and I have agreed that, because the Monsters have received their judgement by us, that it is time for us to step into the light of day,” Felix says.

 

“And what would that be?”

 

“Well, the Seven Magicians have at least seven mages-”

 

“Wait! Did you just say mages? Come on, mages can’t be real in these times. Otherwise there’d be magic everywhere.”

 

“Let me finish,” Felix says quickly, then straightens himself, “Well, as I was saying, the Seven Magicians have at least seven mages. However, there is another group of magic users. We call ourselves the Mage Corps. Yeah, I know very creative name.”

 

“Wait… so what you’re saying is that you’re a part of a group of mages?” the interviewer asks skeptically.

 

“Yes. We were once a group of the Seven Magicians, but have diverged around the year 990, due to difference of opinion in the event of Monsters escaping their prison. The main group, which comprised of the Seven Magicians, wanted to turn every last Monster into dust, while those who became the Mage Corps wanted to judge the Monsters for their actions regarding the Barrier’s destruction. And, suffice to say, we support the Monsters, as they might not be able to live up here successfully without our help.”

 

“I was part of the Seven Magicians that year,” Chara mumbles sullenly.

 

You stare at him, as he openly stated a part of his own past.

 

“My child…,” Toriel says, horror-struck, “Why did you not say anything about it?”

 

Asriel pats Chara’s shoulder once, “Well, I guess it’s obvious which side he chose. Otherwise, I doubt any Monster would be alive right now.”

 

“We understand,” Asgore says, nodding gravely, “It’s just… hard to believe that you, as a child we have adopted, came from the very same group that trapped us underground.”

 

The interviewer continues, “Can you give us any proof of magic?”

 

Felix puts a finger to his chin, “Well, I would demonstrate, but why not give another example? To be more specific, the three boys who fell into the Kingdom of Monsters,” he pulls out his phone, and dials a number.

 

Toriel’s phone rings, so she picks it up, “Yes?”

 

“Would you mind allowing the boys here?” Felix asks.

 

“I don’t know, as it is getting rather close to dinnertime. Will they be able to come back soon?” Toriel asks.

 

“I only need them for a while. They’ll be back once they’re finished here.”

 

Toriel contemplates her options, but nods as she says “Yes.”

 

“Great! See them in a few seconds.”

 

You take Frisk’s shoulder, and glitch yourselves to Felix. Then, you glitch back, grab Chara, then glitch back to Felix. The interviewer is still wearing her expression of shock as you reappear with Chara.

 

“How…  _ how _ are you able to use magic?” she asks, gawking.

 

Felix steps in, “Any human has the capability to use magic, but it must be unlocked first. The only known way is being born of magic users and entering a place saturated with magic or come into contact with ancient magic, in which I think that these three,” he gestures at the three of you, “would definitely apply.”

 

“Another little known fact is that the Ebott Golden Flower doesn’t hurt anyone who has that capability,” you mention, taking out a handful of them. The cameraman and interviewer gasp in fright, Frisk and Chara look at you in a ‘seriously?’ look, while Felix looks at you suspiciously, knowing that you must have looked in his journal at one point in the past week, “Think it has to do something to do with Souls.”

 

“Souls?” the interviewer asks, shaking herself out of her shock.

 

Frisk and Chara point at the Souls in your chest, “Souls.”

 

“So yeah, in short, human Souls come in seven different colors as a modified rainbow, each representing its own trait. The Soul, at its simplest explanation, is everything you are. Memories, personality, all that jazz,” Felix says, “In fact, the Mage Corps’ symbol is based off of the Soul colors, as a seven-spoked wheel with each color being a section.”

 

“Well, would you be willing to tell us what each Soul color represents?” the interviewer asks, still looking slightly dazed.

 

“Red is usually regarded as the most powerful, yet rarest, of all Soul colors, so we’ll go with that one last,” Felix says, clearing his throat, “Orange is Bravery, yellow is Justice, green is Kindness, cyan is Patience, blue, which I am, is Integrity, purple is Perseverance, and red is Determination.”

 

“Wait, there’s a trait named ‘determination’? How would that be a trait?” the cameraman asks.

 

“Well first of all, when talking about a trait, you need to emphasize its first letter, and second, something to consider is that those who have a red Soul tend to be the most Determined individuals, with a resolve that can’t be swayed gently, so we figured that it should be named Determination,” Felix shrugs, “And the strange thing is that these three have Determined Souls.”

 

The interviewer gawks at you, in which the three of you just shrug in a ‘don’t ask’ way. She turns to Felix, “Well, is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap this up?”

 

“Actually, I have something to say,” you mention, as a sort of insurance.

 

The interviewer turns to you, “And what would that be?”

 

“Let’s bring this thing full circle, so back to the Seven Magicians,” you say, looking directly at the camera, “Mom, Dad… I didn’t tell you yesterday, but the reason behind going to the hospital for cleanly breaking my leg bones was because at recess… I was attacked by a member of the Seven Magicians,” you produce the first image of your leg bones broken into several pieces.

 

You can hear Frisk stiffen near you, could imagine the horrified looks of Toriel and Asgore, and the hateful look in Chara’s eyes. Heck, even the cameraman and interviewer have faces of horror written all over them.

 

You continue, “They whispered into my ear before I passed out that my broken bones should be a lesson, and to tell the Monsters that they should go back to where they came from, or face the consequences,” you raise a finger as if telling to wait a moment, “But, what they haven’t broken, was my Determination. My Determination to keep the Monsters under the sun, mixed with the Determination of my brothers’ desires as well, so if they want to mess with our family, they’ll have to go through us first. If one of them is willing enough to break the bones of a mere  _ child _ to send a message to Monsterkind, then there is no level too low for them to stoop to. As a result, they are a threat, and a menace to be dealt with. They might have a Determined adult mage, but even I doubt it could match the strength of three extremely Determined children. And with enough Determination, almost anything that’s possible is possible,” you salute, “Any human supporters of Monsters out there… well, the only thing I have left to say to you is a quote from my father, who is the King of Monsters, and that is ‘Stay Determined’.”

 

You stop, taking a deep breath from all of what you have said.

 

The interviewer wipes a tear from her eye, “My, that last part was beautiful, even more so coming from a child, not to mention so adorable,” she turns to the cameraman, “I think that’s enough.”

 

* * *

  
  


The camera light that indicates recording is now dark, and the two walk off to their news station van. You begin limping the way back home, which isn’t very far.

 

Once the three of you open the front door, you are swept into a hug by both Asgore and Toriel.

 

“My children, what you did was risky, but very brave,” Toriel says, turning to you, “And I shall bring justice to whoever broke your leg in such a horrific way.”

 

“We all will,” Asgore says, then taps his chin thoughtfully, “Those I should ask; how did you know that quote? I haven’t used that quote around you. And the last time I used that was…” his expression darkens from the obvious memory.

 

“I keep trying to tell you,” Asriel walks into the room, “He knows more things than he shows, due to his status as a Player.”

 

“Yes, we know, but… I think you should walk to school from now on, with any of us,” Toriel says, “It might not be much against any humans who are so hate-filled, but even you might not be able to know.”

 

“I agree with your mother. It would make the both of us feel better, knowing that you all will be in safe hands,” Asgore says, nodding.

 

Toriel turns to Asgore, “Now that that is out of the way, I think that we should prepare dinner.”

 

“We?” Asgore asks, slightly taken aback yet hopeful.

 

“Yes, Asgore. We,” Toriel says, rolling her eyes. She walks into the kitchen.

 

“Okay, then. If you insist,” he answers, walking into the kitchen as well.

 

You turn to your brothers, “Well, at least they’re making up more, now. Even if it took extremely idiotic moves to get there.”

 

“Yeah, well why did you only say three extremely Determined children back there instead of four?” Asriel asks, tapping his foot on the ground.

 

“Well, we can’t let the Seven Magicians know that there’s a Determined Monster running around, or else they’ll be on our tails faster than we know,” Chara says.

 

You walk into the living room, television still on the news, “Well, in the meantime, I say we should find something else to watch until dinner.”

 

You hear their murmurs of assent as you beckon them into the living room.

 

Despite everything, this timeline is going better than you expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you were wondering, the kids who helped Linda's son beat John up were telling the truth. The kid thinking that he is superior just because his mother is a teacher would technically fit in with his behavior. Also, as for Asgore and Toriel... well, they aren't technically back together, but by the end of the chapter, their relationship is better, even if it's only on the friend-level
> 
> As for Chara's mention of being part of the Seven Magicians before climbing Mount Ebott, that is this universe's reason for his hatred of humanity. He was part of the group that would eventually become the Mage Corps, and thought that they wouldn't survive the schism, so he fled to Mount Ebott to see if Monsters were how they were said to be. We all know how that would turn out, as evidenced by the game
> 
> Also, this would be Felix's official reveal to the main cast that he is a mage. And, in case any of you were wondering where the location of their headquarters was, then think back to the sunset scene of the end of the True Pacifist Route. If everyone's back was to Mount Ebott in that shot, then the mountain on the left of the screen would be where it is located, as it would be relatively close to Ebott in the event of the Barrier's destruction.
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter! (I also got a Notes Section Electrician to repair the bulbs and circuits, so no more shadows to back up into for dramatic effect!)


	12. All That Matters is Knowing that Murphy's Law Can Still Apply

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very concerning incident happens while you are at school, which is pretty much Murphy's Law biting you in the butt

You wake up to the sound of Toriel knocking on your bedroom door. The four of you groan in response. She opens the door, peeking in.

 

“It is time to get up, my children,” she says.

 

You groan as you sit up in your bed and wipe the sleep from your eyes groggily. You look at Toriel attentively. Your brothers take a while to sit up, but they sit up in their beds and fix their eyes on Toriel.

 

“I’m sorry, but I your father and I have to leave for a meeting with some representatives of this state, though I have already prepared your breakfast and lunch for this day,” she leaves the room for a few seconds before returning, as if she remembered something else to say, “Oh, I forgot to mention; one of your friends will be here to escort you to school in a little bit,” and with that, she turns out of your room once again.

 

After a minute, you can hear the front door open, and then close. You get out of bed, first by tentatively testing your left leg. You wince. Yep, still hurts a heck of a lot, so you opt for limping yet again. The others follow you out of the room as you walk into the kitchen.

 

Like what Toriel has said, there were four plates of breakfast foods on the table, next to paper bags with your names on each of them. You put your bag into your inventory and begin eating your breakfast, which were just eggs and bacon. Chara, Asriel, and Frisk enter the kitchen a few seconds later, taking their spots and lunches.

 

You smile smugly, “Huh, I’m the one who’s limping, and yet I’m out here first.”

 

Chara smirks, “Hey, at least we aren’t still in our pajamas.”

 

You look down and gasp. You still were in your pajamas. You quickly glitch into your room, change into your normal clothes, then glitch back into your chair, all within thirty seconds.

 

You look at Frisk as you take a bite of your bacon, “So, just wondering if you would know, but would you know what class we have today?”

 

Frisk scrunches up his face, “No. I may have been in at least one school system with this system of classes, but that one had a different schedule than ours does. It was horrid, with math on Monday and P.E. on Tuesday.”

 

You scrunch up your face as well, “Ugh, math on a Monday is pretty much begging to fail the grade, and P.E. The bane of nerds on the next day.”

 

Frisk nods, “If it was anything like my last school, we’ll have either science, history, or P.E. today. I really hope we have either science or history today, because I do NOT want a near-repeat of that year.”

 

You nod as well, and continue eating your breakfast.

 

Almost perfectly when the four of you finish and put your dishes away, there are several rapid knocks at the front door. You smile, knowing the only person who would knock that enthusiastically this early in the morning. You glitch to the front door so as to not keep them waiting.

 

When you open up the door, you find Papyrus standing there. You take a large step back as a signal for him to enter, to which he accepts it obviously.

 

Frisk, Asriel, and Chara enter the entrance hall, as Papyrus says “HELLO, HUMANS AND PRINCE! IN CASE YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT THE KING AND QUEEN SAID, I AM HERE TO ESCORT THE FOUR OF YOU TO YOUR SCHOOL FOR THIS DAY. THEY WERE ASKING AROUND LAST NIGHT FOR SOMEONE TO GET YOU TO SCHOOL, SO I DECIDED UPON MYSELF TO BE THE ONE TO DO IT!”

 

“This ought to be interesting,” Asriel mutters, though still smiling.

 

Papyrus turns to you, “I ALSO WATCHED THE HUMAN NEWS LAST NIGHT, AND EVEN THOUGH I WAS DISAPPOINTED THAT METTATON DIDN’T HAVE HIS OWN CHANNEL YET, I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS VERY BRAVE OF YOU TO LET OUT THE NEWS OF WHAT THAT PERSON DID TO YOU. BUT! HAVE YOU DECIDED TO FORGIVE THEM YET?”

 

You hold out your hands, “I think that forgiveness is a bit much, but I can’t hold a grudge, even with what they did. The very least I could do is give them mercy.”

 

He brightens up at the last sentence, “IT IS VERY GOOD THAT YOU HAVE DECIDED TO STAY ON THE PATH OF MERCY. AS USUAL. AND THOUGH IT SADDENS ME THAT YOU FEEL YOU CAN’T FORGIVE THEM, I HOPE THAT YOU CAN AT LEAST HELP MAKE THEM A BETTER PERSON THAN THEY WERE BEFORE.”

 

You smile, “And what did you think of my speech?”

 

“YOUR SPEECH WAS VERY GREAT!” Papyrus says enthusiastically, then has eyes popping out his sockets, “ALMOST AS GREAT OF A SPEECH THAT I CAN MAKE!”

 

“Can we get to school now?” Chara interjects, wanting to steer away from this.

 

“OF COURSE! BUT FIRST, I THINK THAT HUMAN FRISK WOULD NEED TO DO HIS TIME THINGY BEFORE WE SET OFF,” Papyrus says, taking Frisk, “WE ALL HOPE THAT HE WON’T NEED TO USE IT, BUT YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO SAFE!”

 

Papyrus runs out of the door with Frisk, and knowing that he’ll be running most of the way to school, you just glitch to the SAVE point, getting there at the same time as Frisk and Papyrus. Frisk touches it, then turns to Papyrus, with Asriel and Chara catching up.

 

“Do you know the way to our school?” he asks Papyrus.

 

Papyrus appears to realize that he doesn’t, but quickly covers it up, “I… DO NOT KNOW THE WAY TO YOUR SCHOOL. BUT!” he raises his hand as if one of you were about to interrupt, “THAT SHALL NOT STOP THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND EVEN IF WE GET LOST ON THE WAY AND RESULT IN YOU BECOMING LATE, THEN AT LEAST WE WILL KNOW THE LAYOUT OF THE TOWN FOR FUTURE PURPOSES!” he says, running off with a loud ‘NYEH HEH HEH!’

 

You look at the other three, who just shrug. Sighing, you glitch in the direction that Papyrus ran off to.

 

This will no doubt take a while.

 

* * *

  
  


“NYEH! I TOLD YOU WE WOULD MAKE IT THERE IN TIME!” Papyrus proclaims, letting you off of his shoulders.

 

“Never underestimate the will of the Great Papyrus!” you say, smiling and slightly laughing.

 

“NYEH YES!” he replies, posing. Chara, Asriel, and Frisk jog up next to him, panting. Papyrus turns to them, “I’M SORRY THAT WE HAD TO LEAVE YOUR WITH MY TRACKS. IT WAS BECAUSE HE NEEDED A LIFT,” you begin snickering, “PLEASE DO NOT TELL SANS I SAID THAT.”

 

“No problem,” you say, forcing down the snickers.

 

“Is it just me, or are there way more Monsters here than yesterday?” Chara asks, pointing at the crowd behind you. You turn, and think that he is right.

 

The amount of Monsters in attendance here have swelled overnight. If you had to guess by what amount it had increased by, you would have to say it has quadrupled from the original six to seven Monsters who were attending from the start.

 

“WOWIE! I THINK THAT YOUR SPEECH FROM LAST EVENING HAS INSPIRED MORE MONSTERS TO ATTEND THIS SCHOOL! THIS CAN MEAN ONLY GOOD THINGS SHALL HAPPEN IN THE COMING DAYS!” Papyrus shouts, clearly ecstatic, then frowns, “THOUGH WHAT SHALL I DO IN THE MEANTIME? IT IS NOT A LESSON DAY WITH UNDYNE, AND I HAVE NO OTHER PLANS FOR THIS DAY…” he puts a gloved hand to his chin, clearly in thought.

 

“Maybe you can… join us in our class!” Frisk says quickly, “Today’s teacher might need some extra help with all the new incoming Monsters.”

 

“And who better to help than a Monster like yourself to help?” Chara continues shakily, as if unsure if this would be wise to do. He turns to Asriel.

 

Asriel just shrugs, “Sure, why not. Could make today more interesting, at the very least.”

 

You can see the sparkles in his eyes as Papyrus says “REALLY?”

 

You nod, “Who better than the coolest skeleton we know?”

 

“WELL,” Papyrus begins, “THE SURFACE COULD USE SOME MORE COOL SKELETONS LIKE MYSELF. THOUGH SUFFICE TO SAY, I THINK THAT THE THREE COOLEST HUMANS,” Chara cringes at that, “I KNOW IS ENOUGH FOR NOW. BUT THAT SHOULD CHANGE SOON ENOUGH!” and with that, Papyrus runs off into the mix of humans and Monsters.

 

Chara turns to Frisk, “Are you sure it was a bright idea to invite him?”

 

Frisk just shrugs, “Just didn’t want to make him feel left out.”

 

Chara groans as the four of you walk into the crowd.

 

* * *

  
  


You think that it was a hilarious day at school so far. Today’s class was history, luckily, so you’d technically be learning things about the more recent past than from your original world, which most likely has diverged since your entrance of this universe. To Frisk, this is just in the past for him, but to you and Chara, especially Chara, this is pretty much the future. Even though it’s technically the present.

 

Most of the human students were frightened at the sight of Papyrus at first, then confused when he began talking. After a while, they began warming up to him, and began laughing at his antics. He was even more popular among the Monster children, because they knew he was entertaining to be around.

 

It took awhile for the teacher to agree, but she agreed to allow him in only if he keeps the Monster children in check, to which he happily took up. At occasions during the class, he made a lot of the kids laugh due to how innocent his questions were, and it felt like an unspoken rule in the class to not mention how horrible history truly was.

 

It was now lunch, and while you had your own lunches, Papyrus had brought some spaghetti for the four of you. In fact so much of it that he even gave some of the less fortunate students, who couldn’t afford a school lunch. It took a little bit of convincing, but at your mention of that they won’t need to poop, students were clamoring to get some of it. That, of course, didn’t sit well with the cafeteria workers. You’re just glad you were able to make sure their taste buds would survive.

 

In the middle of eating the spaghetti you had, you feel a tap on your shoulder. Turning, you see that Felix is standing behind you.

 

“I want a minute with you, if you don’t mind,” he says. You nod, putting the rest of your lunch into your inventory so it won’t get into unfavorable temperatures. You follow him out of the cafeteria.

 

He stops and turns around, looking straight into your eyes, “It is about yesterday. I am deeply sorry that I haven’t officially come out to you guys personally before the news yesterday, though I figured you already have figured out that I was a mage.”

 

You cross your arms, “What gave that away?”

 

He smiles, “Well, considering that I haven’t opened up that page of my research journal since the day we came here, and I also saw the Souls through the flowers last week. Chara was a little hard to spot, due to the colors of his shirt blending in so well, but I spotted his indent as well.”

 

“Why did you lie, then?” you tap your foot on the ground repeatedly, “It is definitely not a trait associated with Integrity.”

 

“Well, there is one small loophole in that,” he says, “Technically speaking, if it’s not a direct question or important enough, I can fib if the situation requires. If it is direct and important, I am pretty much screwed.”

 

“Well, sorta makes sense. If they don’t try, then what do they deserve to pry?” you say, and begin to smile, “But now that the boring crap is out of the way, I’ve got a question of my own.”

 

“Okay then, what is it?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow.

 

“What are the magics associated with Integrities?” you ask.

 

Felix gives a small laugh, “Well, there still is a bit of time left, so why not?” he clears his throat, “For starters, you have seen the day we arrived that a lot of people suddenly began agreeing when I turned my hand blue, correct?”

 

You nod, “Yeah.”

 

“Well, that little move is named the Suggestibility Influencer. It is pretty much like the Jedi Mind Trick in those old Star Wars films, except it plays upon their suggestibility rather than a weak mind, because that would be more immoral. With that, it can be easier to make a group come to a decision, though it’s considerably less effective against other magic users.”

 

“Ah,” you say, nodding your head, “Makes sense. One of the definitions of Integrity is being whole and undivided. Though I feel like a group leader would have an Integrity be as their second-in-command.”

 

“Many famous groups do, but that’s for another time. Some other magics I can do are gravity magics, upon both living things and inanimate objects, and being able to passively make people be convinced of what I say, though it only works when an Integrity is completely honest on what they say,” he says.

 

“Really? That’s all you can do?” you ask, slightly unconvinced that that was all of it.

 

Felix looks extremely uncomfortable, “Well, there is at least one other ability I have, and telling one’s Signature to others is usually a sign of major trust, but I don’t think that you’d be giving me a break, even to my deathbed, correct?”

 

You nod, “Determination and whatnot. By the way, what do you mean by one’s ‘Signature’?”

 

“It’s the magic unique to any single mage. No two mages in history have the same Signature,” Felix explains, “But anyway, I think that you’ll be needing to know it, considering the shenanigans you and your brothers get into, you should at least know what it is.”

 

“Well? What are you stalling for?” you ask impatiently.

 

“Sorry, it’s just that I need to compose myself, as this is no small thing to talk about,” he says, taking a few deep breaths, “Okay. I call mine the Proofs. Essentially, when I activate it, I can become resistant to one thing of my choosing, such as heat, falling, or even literal bullets. The downsides are that it needs to be turned off then back on if I need to change resistances,” he smirks, “Though it is impossible to turn myself foolproof.”

 

You begin snickering, “If you claim something to be foolproof, then the universe will just send a bigger fool.”

 

Felix begins laughing, “That is true. Now, if that’s all you have for now, I think you should be getting back to lunch.”

 

You nod, turning to the cafeteria, and begin walking.

 

Halfway to the door, a loud, screeching alarm begins to echo around the school.

 

* * *

  
  


The sheer shrillness of the alarms causes your left leg to collapse in intense pain, tears being held back in an attempt to not begin crying in pain. You hold your leg tightly. You can hear people walking rapidly all around the school to their designated exits. You wonder why in the world the fire alarm would go off in the first week of school.

 

A faculty member is escorting all human children out of the cafeteria, but not allowing Monster children out.

 

“If you’re a Monster or part of the royal family, then you must stay in the cafeteria to wait for further instruction!” they shout.

 

You do not trust a single word of that, but that doesn’t mean you’ll flee while your brothers are in the cafeteria. Also, you want to see where this leads to, so you rapidly limp into the room. You do not regret the fact that they shut the door behind you, seeing as you could just as easily glitch out of the room.

 

You look around the cafeteria, and spot the group of Monsters (and two humans) in the corner, completely confused on what is going on. You glitch yourself to them.

 

“IS IT NORMAL FOR HUMAN SCHOOLS TO HAVE ALARMS THIS LOUD?” Papyrus questions, hands over where his ears would be.

 

“Definitely not,” Frisk says, holding his hands over his ears.

 

“Okay, this has officially confirmed it,” you say, not caring if others won’t care, “Loud noises definitely aggravates the Determination of my leg.”

 

“What made you think it was this that confirmed it rather than the times of yesterday or this morning?” Chara shouts, clearly annoyed.

 

“Yesterday can be chalked up to healing. This screeching alarm caused my leg to collapse from pain, which will continue hurting until this blows over,” you shout back over the alarm.

 

Thankfully, the alarms die down, but what happens next wouldn’t be considered an improvement.

 

As the alarms quit, another set of doors opens, and in comes seven figures in vantablack armor, wielding guns. The only indicators on them are colored markings on their chests, where their Souls should be. Each person sports a different colored marking, though there appears to be two purples.

 

They all seem to be wearing voice modulators, because one of them speaks in a modified voice, “Monsters of Mount Ebott. You have been sent a message from our group to one of your ambassadors that you should go back to where you came from, or else you’ll pay the consequences. Not only did you disobey, but you also went out of your way to defy our order, as evidenced by today.”

 

Another begins speaking, “Now, we do not wish to kill you all immediately, as that would be too messy for now. However, seeing as the breakage of one of your so-called ‘ambassador’s’ leg wasn’t a clear enough message, we’ll have to send you a bigger message.”

 

Yet another speaks up, “And what would be a bigger message to monsters than by spelling it out with the dust of a few of their friends?”

 

At that mention, there is pandemonium among the Monsters. Papyrus is the only one who keeps his cool, and puts up a barrier of bones around the Monsters. You can tell that, because he only intends to protect them, they won’t hurt Monsters if they touch them. For you, Frisk, and Chara, it will somewhat sting.

 

The gun people raise their weapons, and pull the triggers.

 

…

 

Nothing happens.

 

They seem very confused, as they check their weapons. Using a bit of cyan eye, along with a little patience for the image to sharpen in the distance, you can see that there is a faint blue glow surrounding their safety locks. You dismiss the color and look up.

 

Felix is leaning on one of the beams in the metal rafters.

 

He jumps down and lands softly. You can definitely tell that he used blue mode to not get hurt. He turns to the would-be shooters, “Seriously? Of all the people the Magicians could’ve sent, they had to send you?” he shakes his head, “Man, they used to have lots more mages some time back,” he taps his finger on his chin, “Now, answer me this; why would you be willing to shoot people who just want to live happily on the Surface?”

 

“Because monsters aren’t people!” one shouts, still attempting to shoot the Monsters.

 

“Yeah, care to tell every other discriminated group throughout history that?” Felix quips.

 

“No, because they were at least still human! But any human that is not part of the monster’s royal family is ordered to be killed for betraying the human race!” they respond.

 

“Okay, then shoot me instead!” Felix replies, “Waste all of your ammo on me for all I care, if it means you’ll be satisfied!”

 

You can definitely tell what he is doing, and he definitely released the safety locks.

 

The shooters raise their weapons again. Papyrus, also figuring out what was going on, summons more bones, so as bullets won’t stray into the Monsters. The shooters open fire.

 

With each bullet that hit him, you could hear them bounce off of them as if he were made of steel. You smile as the bullet sounds begin petering out.

 

The shooters have run out of ammunition.

 

Felix holds out his arms, making a grabbing motion, and yanks back his hands, as if pulling tightly on strings. The guns are yanked out of the shooters’ hands, and skid into a neat pile at his feet. You can tell that he is smirking.

 

“Now that you are out of ammo and not armed, how about you guys skedaddle, before I call the police,” Felix states powerfully.

 

Grudgingly, the shooters walk out of the door.

 

Felix turns to your group, “Well, was anyone hit?” everyone nods, or their best equivalent, “Good, because I don’t want-”

 

Seven gunshots ring throughout the cafeteria as they coincide with holes appearing in Felix’s chest.

 

“Guess I should have expected that,” he slightly gurgles, blood dribbling from his mouth, and collapses onto his knees, and face plants the ground.

 

Dead.

 

You see the Magician shooters holding handguns at the doorway.

 

“Ordered that if we were foiled by a member of the Corps, we’d use these single shots to dispatch them,” you can practically hear their smile, “And since human Souls are stronger, that is worth more than any of your dust. So, take that as a warning for any other traitor of humanity,” the group walks off.

 

You look at the others.

 

Asriel looks irritated, because he knows what will happen next. Chara looks absolutely pissed off, for understandable reasons. Frisk, however, looks as if he is about to vomit, which is almost impossible to do when you live off of Monster food.

 

The rest of the Monsters look speechless, and some look horrified. Papyrus looks very saddened at the sight of Felix’s lifeless body.

 

“Frisk,” you say, turning to him, “You know what you need to do.”

 

He nods numbly, and raises his hand. As he summons his Save File, you notice that his sclera are glowing red. You figure that another thing about mages is that their sclera glow the color of their main trait when their magic is activated. Frisk touches the Load option.

 

* * *

  
  


You are back at the SAVE point earlier that morning.

 

“WELL, I WAS RIGHT IN THE EVENT THAT FRISK MIGHT NEED TO DO HIS SHENANIGANS. BUT OF COURSE I WAS! I’M ALWAYS RIGHT! EXCEPT WHEN I’M WRONG. I JUST WISH IT WERE UNDER LESS… MURDERY… CIRCUMSTANCES,” Papyrus’ frown saddens, but brightens, “BUT! WE CAN PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING! THIS IS A CHANCE FOR THE SHOOTERS TO GET A SECOND CHANCE AT REDEEMING THEMSELVES. AND IF WE CAN’T… WELL, WE’LL HAVE TO HAVE THE POLICE CAPTURE THEM FOR EVERYONE’S SAFETY.”

 

“Well, you can’t exactly stop Murphy’s Law. If anything can go wrong, then it will,” you state, “But it can become null with a little bit of temporal manipulation.”

 

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT! EVERYONE, LET’S CELEBRATE TO TEMPORAL SHENANIGANS BEING USED FOR GOOD! … AFTER WE FOIL THOSE MEAN HUMANS, OF COURSE!” Papyrus says. He picks the four of you up easily, and runs to the school.

 

This timeline goes just about as well as the previous attempt, except for one small thing…

 

Papyrus does his best fake gasp, “WHOOPSIE DOOPSIE! I THINK I FORGOT TO TURN MY OVEN OFF! HUMANS AND MONSTERS, FORGIVE ME, BUT I MUST LEAVE!” and with that, he proceeds to jump out of the (thankfully, open) window.

 

The humans in the class look utterly dumbfounded, while your brothers and the Monsters are howling with laughter and pounding your fists on the table, because that was a completely Papyrus thing to do.

 

Lunch comes around quickly, but you made sure that Papyrus would give you his spaghetti for the other students. With a little bit of iris changing, you could pinpoint the exact students that Papyrus, cutting straight to the point of Monster food will make them not poop.

 

You turn to Felix right before he taps your shoulder, “I agree, we should talk.”

 

He gives you a suspicious look, but beckons you to follow, so you do. Once outside of the cafeteria, he turns to you.

 

“I know that something was up just then, considering you knew what I was planning to tell you to get out here for. Mind giving me the details?” he cuts to the chase.

 

“Seven shooters from the Magicians will pull the fire alarm, have a faculty member make sure all Monsters remain in the cafeteria, attempt to shoot us, but you use your Signature and some blue magic to dispatch them,” you quickly say.

 

“And should I ask how many times this has happened?” he asks you, and has clearly caught on the fact that it could have happened multiple times, “And what was the reason?”

 

You gulp, “Well, this is only the second attempt, hoping that it won’t become more. But Papyrus is working on it!” you ensure, “And the reason… well, they killed you with single-shot handguns before officially leaving.”

 

“Well, I’m at least glad that I’m that important, to unravel time just to save my life,” Felix says, smiling.

 

“Though we might need you to help get them out,” you awkwardly say.

 

He cocks a brow, “Shouldn’t your goal be to get me out of the target area?”

 

You shrug one shoulder, “Yeah, but your Suggestibility Influencer could be handy to get them to cooperate, if we need to come that far.”

 

He frowns, but nods, “Understandable.”

 

You hear shouting from the entrance of the school, and you smile ironically, “It’s showtime.”

 

You walk to the lobby of the school, and see the seven shooters being blocked by Sans and Gaster, and joined by Papyrus, who appears to be attempting to negotiate with them, to no avail.

 

“We told you! We don’t negotiate with any  **freaks** or anyone associated with them!” one says.

 

“LANGUAGE! THERE MIGHT NOT BE ANY CHILDREN AROUND, BUT THIS IS STILL A SCHOOL. A PLACE OF LEARNING IS NOT MEANT FOR SUCH THINGS!” Papyrus says.

 

“Yeah, well with freaks like you around, how about we show you a piece of our minds?” another shouts, and there is a chorus of agreement, “Starting with you, Goopy!”

 

“I highly suggest that you do not do that, as it would be such a waste,” Gaster says. You could almost swear that he sounded very bored. You can also see that his eye sockets are glowing with yellow and blue, and you know for a fact that his justice will be whole and with his entire goopy being.

 

The shooters open fire at him, with each bullet that hits him making a sound of something small entering water. By the time the shooters are out of ammunition, Gaster still looks bored.

 

“Wha- but… how are you not dust? With enough intent, you should be dust!” one of them shouts.

 

“Guess you didn’t do enough research,” Gaster replies, still bored.

 

One of them has noticed that Sans has apparently fallen asleep, due to the telltale aster z’s coming from his skull. Simultaneously, they aim their single-shots at him and shoot…

 

Only for Sans to immediately dodge them.

 

He only does his signature shrub and wink, “what? you thought i’m just gonna stand there and take it?”

 

You have to stuff your fist into your mouth to prevent your giggling from being heard by the shooters. Compared to the previous timeline, these people were very pathetic.

 

“GAH! YOU’RE BEING MORE DIFFICULT THAN WHEN SANS MAKES A BAD JOKE!” Papyrus says.

 

“wow, really bro? i’m rather touched by that, but there’s bound to be at least one of you who thinks my jokes are  _ humerus _ ,” Sans winks.

 

Papyrus groans, Gaster rolls his glowing eyes, and you have to sit down from difficulties of standing from immense muffled giggling.

 

“NOW, I WILL HAVE TO KEEP YOU IN A BOX OF BONES, SO THAT YOU MAY THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD’VE DONE UNTIL YOU DECIDE TO BEHAVE YOURSELVES,” Papyrus says, raising his arm for bones to rise from the ground, “AND I WOULDN’T TOUCH THEM IF I WERE YOU, AS MONSTER MAGIC AND HUMANS ARE INCOMPATIBLE.”

 

Of course there is one defiant person, who immediately yelps in pain as they pull back from hitting a bone.

 

A few minutes later, you can hear police sirens approaching. Sans turns to the would’ve-been shooters, left socket glowing cyan, yellow, and purple.

 

“So, you have all made it this far in your attempt,” he says in his Royal Judge voice, “I suggest for you all to reflect on the events that could have happened today. and you must ask yourself; were you really doing the right thing?”

 

“Of course we were!” the same defiant person spits out.

 

“i wasn’t asking you to vocalize it,” Sans threatens, summons a blaster with it ready to charged, and his sockets voids.

 

“SANS! IT IS NOT GOOD TO INTIMIDATE THOSE WHO YOU JUDGE WITH YOUR BLASTERS!” Papyrus says, clearly displeased.

 

“right, sorry,” Sans says, unsummoning the blaster and turning his left eye colored again, “Well, judging from all of you,” he looks at each shooter, and winces, “Wow, most monsters think that having a LOVE of at least two or three is pretty high. They don’t know what it’s like to be stared at by seven bozos who all have at least  _ nineteen _ LOVE. I’ve got to tell you, encountering one person with that high of LOVE is unsettling, but  _ seven _ at the same time? I’m almost surprised that no Monster would have Fallen Down by a single, concentrated stare.”

 

“Yeah, well what would have you done if we were back in that  **crap** hole you call a mountain? Pun us to death?” one says snarkily.

 

“No,” Sans replies, voiding his sockets, “You would have been sentenced to a  **bad time** on the account of intent to murder,” he returns to his socket color, “But, because we are on the Surface, I’ll have to abide by their rules.”

 

The seven shooters shiver as the police enter, with Sans returning his normal eye lights, “just accept it, as resistance will be futile.”

 

The police officers give the skelebros a strange look, but swiftly detain the shooters. They glance at them one last time before leaving.

 

* * *

  
  


You are watching the news later that night. There were rumors around school stating that a school shooting attempt was foiled by Monsters, to which you only gave teasers. Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster were on the news tonight, and you promised them (mostly Papyrus) that you’d watch them.

 

“Now, may I ask but how did you know to thwart the would’ve-been shooters?” the interviewer asks.

 

“what can i say, i just  _ felt it in my bones _ ,” Sans replies, winking.

 

“ARGH! WHILE I DESPISE THE WORDING MY BROTHER HAS USED, I CAN CONFIRM THAT NOTHING AWRY HAS HAPPENED! NOT EVEN SHENANIGANS OF TEMPORAL PROPORTIONS,” you can see him begin sweating, “IT’S JUST AN EXPRESSION.”

 

“Ookay, but, Mister…” she asks to Gaster, “Yeah? Well, witnesses have reported that you have taken seven entire clips of ammunition without dying. Care to explain that?”

 

“My physicality is unstable for a Monster’s, due to some events that I had no control of. Suffice to say, it has rendered me permanently like this,” Gaster says, holding his arms out.

 

“Okay, but other witnesses state that while the police were arriving on scene,” the interviewer turns to Sans, “You and your brother had glowing eyes. What’s up with that?”

 

“what, this?” Sans says, turning his left socket to his colors, “this is something all skeleton monsters possess. it’s the most like how humans have soul colors, except showing in the socket instead of the soul. it’s one of our last roots to our human ancestry.”

 

“Wait, your saying that you’re descended from humans?” the interviewer gives a suspicious look.

 

“Technically speaking, the descendants of reanimated human skeletons, but we do not have the time to explain such things right now,” Gaster interjects.

 

“yeah, ‘cuz there’s a bed at home with my name written all over it,” Sans says, winking at the camera.

 

“SANS!” Papyrus screeches while stomping his foot, “THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A LAZYBONES! WE ARE ON LIVE TELEVISION, AND YOU’RE JUST SPENDING IT ON SOME BOONDOGGLING?”

 

“well, what else would i be using that time on? napping? nah, that would be too boring for the audience,” Sans says.

 

“Actually, we do not have much time left, so is there anything left you want to say?” the reporter asks.

 

“YES,” he turns to the camera, “HUMANS, DON’T BE A LAZYBONES LIKE OUR BROTHER, AND YOU MAY BECOME NEARLY AS GREAT AS MYSELF.”

 

“no one can be greater or cooler than you, bro,” Sans says. You know that he honestly believes it.

 

“I AM QUITE AWARE OF THAT, SANS,” Papyrus says, though happier now from Sans’ encouragement.

 

“I have something to say,” Gaster says, then clears what would’ve been his throat, “We just want to let you know that, despite us being Monsters, we still have moralities. So if we find a particularly murderous human, we will do our part in keeping society as safe as it could be, and make sure that they are brought to justice.”

 

“Very well said,” the interviewer nods, signs off, then the camera switches back to the news station.

 

Despite all the deaths in this entire timeline, things were going better than you thought, as there were fewer Loads necessary than what you expected at this point.

 

You just hope things don’t escalate from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just saying, but Murphy's Law will happen regardless of Loads in some instances later in the story
> 
> As for the more interesting part, every mage has their own unique 'Signature' magic, which is unique to them. John is not an exception, because even though he might not be able to use magic like other humans, he still has the Signature capability, and it will be revealed in time.
> 
> As for Frisk and Chara, we all know what Frisk's is (I have named his Signature 'the Clockworks, because things happen like clockwork when one Loads), while I have named Chara's Signature 'Causality'. Also, other Determination mages can't remember through Frisk's Loads. The reason John and Asriel could is because they were technically placeholders of the Signature in this world, while Chara was with Frisk the entire time, though mostly in a sleeplike state within Frisk's Soul. And it's pretty clear (at least to me) in the first story on how the skelebros can remember through them
> 
> You might be surprised who else I make mages later in the story, but wait, there's more! I'm planning for there to be three more large events like this happening throughout the next week in the story, with the last one being the largest scale
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter! (Because I'm tired right now)


	13. All That Matters is the Science

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of science class, and you get help from Alphys to make the best thing of it

You wake up with a groan, your left leg throbbing with mild pain. You sit it in your bed, ignore the protests of your transmuted kneecap, and begin massaging the leg in an attempt to lessen the pain. This does not work, and in fact all it does is aggravate the pain. You wince, and bite back tears of pain as you cradle your leg until the pain goes back to how it was before.

 

Not wanting to wake up the others, you climb out of your bed and gingerly limp to the kitchen, which has some noises coming from it. You peek into the kitchen.

 

Toriel is walking about the kitchen, in the beginnings of preparing breakfast. You should have guessed that she would be up at this time to make breakfast.

 

She appears to have heard you, as she turns to the doorway, and smiles when she sees you.

 

“It is very good to see you, my child. Did you sleep well?” she asks, returning to preparing breakfast.

 

“Sort of. It was my leg that woke me up,” you say, limping up to the counter.

 

“Oh?” Toriel asks, “I thought the doctors said that your leg should be completely healed by now?”

 

Crap. You forgot to tell her about what happened with your leg a couple days ago.

 

You rub the back of your neck awkwardly, “Well, before I was brought back here by Undyne a couple of days ago, the stuff they injected my leg with had severe… complications.”

 

Toriel’s expression changes from concern to worry, “What… what kind of complications did you have?”

 

You brace yourself, “My leg bones may have rejected the injection and converted them into pure Determination?”

 

Her face turns to shock, covering her mouth, “Why would they do such a thing to a child?”

 

You quickly begin to do damage control, “They couldn’t have known that it was a possibility. Alphys tested it, and it turns out that the injection was highly reactive to magic,” you take a breath, “And considering that I’m probably the first ever magic-using human who has ever taken the treatment.”

 

Toriel appears to be attempting to calm herself down, as she has closed her eyes and takes several deep breaths, and reopens her eyes, “I know. It’s just… how many other mages will have to that before it’s realized?”

 

You shrug, “Well, the doctors were in the room when she tested and confirmed it, so the word should be out in no time… well, also, I think at least one of them was a mage, so I think they would’ve passed it onto the Corps by now.”

 

“Oh, you think one of the doctors was a mage?” Toriel asks, “How would you know of this as confirmation?”

 

“When Undyne carried me out, I noticed one of them have their eyes glowing green. The exact color of Kindness,” you say, absent-mindedly lightly thumping your chest.

 

“Ah. Glowing eyes, the mark of a mage using his or her magic,” she replies, getting out plates and silverware and handing them to you, “They glow with the color of the human’s Soul,” she looks at you, “And you still apply to that rule.”

 

“Huh,” you say, setting the plates and silverware, “Thought I would be yet another exception,” you look down at where your Soul would be, “For obvious reasons.”

 

Toriel looks at you and smiles, “Of course you still apply, considering everything. I just never mentioned it to you, thinking you’d already know that. Did you know that it usually happens when you change your color, or when your eyes change, or when you do some of that ‘shortcutting’ you’re so used to doing?”

 

“Nope,” you say, then smiling, “The more you know.”

 

She gives a small laugh, “Well then, go get your brothers up, as breakfast is almost ready.

 

You give a firm nod, then glitch upstairs.

 

* * *

  
  


Breakfast, as usual, was excellent. As you were finished eating, you heard a few nervous-sounding knocks coming from the front door. You definitely know who is at the door.

 

Once you have put your dishes in the sink, you limp as fast as you can to the door, and when you open it, you see Alphys nervously standing there, as if she was not wanting to be here but forcing herself to be here.

 

“H-hi,” she says, stepping into the foyer.

 

Toriel steps into the entrance hall and notices Alphys, “Greetings, Alphys. May I ask, but what are you doing here this early?”

 

“I wanted t-to walk to the boys to school, along w-with check on John’s l-leg,” Alphys says, clicking her claws nervously.

 

Toriel smiles, “Of course. You may escort them to school if you want, but you shall check his leg first.”

 

“O-of course,” Alphys says, then produces a scanner you haven’t seen before from her inventory. She steps to you.

 

“What is that?” you ask her, pointing at the scanner.

 

“Oh! This is an internal scanner. It kind of mimics your and Gaster’s green-cyan eye combination,” she appears to droop a bit, “Though it isn’t as effective.”

 

You smile, “That’s still neat, to mimic natural things using technology. And when did you make this?”

 

Alphys slightly blushes, pressing a few more buttons, “Just last night.”

 

You give an impressed whistle, “See? If you can put together a functioning device that advanced in just a night, then it’s good enough for me.”

 

“Thanks,” Alphys responds, blushing.

 

The scanner begins making a slow and steady beep. Alphys holds it up to your leg, and steadily moves it up and down your leg, searching for any abnormalities.

 

“The picture is k-kind of blurry, but it has c-confirmed my theory,” she says, adjusting her glasses, “Your b-bones in your leg are o-one hundred percent Determination,” she moves it to your ankle, then where your femur meets your pelvis, and gives a sigh of relief, “Th-thankfully, it appears that none of the other bones a-are going to transmute into Determination, along with the areas surrounding the transmuted ligaments and such.”

 

“Phew,” you say, pretend wiping sweat from your forehead, “It’s not going to hurt any more than it already does right now, right?”

 

“It sh-shouldn’t,” Alphys says, putting the scanner back into her inventory, “Though I-I don’t think that it will be painless ever a-again.”

 

You shrug, “Meh. As long as I can use it in  _ some _ capacity, I’m okay with it being pure Determination.”

 

Alphys stares at you, “Your b-bones were turned to D-Determination just two days ago and that’s a-all you say?”

 

You raise a brow, “Yeah, so? Remember what Flowey told me a few years ago?”

 

“Sort of, th-those memories were i-incomplete due to your t-temporal manipulation just before it,” Alphys replies.

 

You smile, “Glad I figured out the whole thing about holding the fragment while Loading?”

 

“Y-yeah, but we’re getting off track. You’ve got t-to go to school after all,” she replies.

 

“Yeah,” you sigh, then turn away, “Guys!”

 

“Yes, we know!” Chara shouts in an irritated voice, entering the area you were in. Frisk and Asriel follow him into the room.

 

“Yeah yeah yeah,” you say, turning to Alphys, “Shall we go, then?”

 

“O-oh! Yes, we should,” Alphys says, turning out through the front door.

 

“Goodbye, my children,” Toriel says, hugging the four of you, “I hope you all have a wonderful day at school.”

 

Alphys walks into the house yet again, “Excuse me, b-but which direction is the sch-school?”

 

You smile, “We’ll show you,” you hold her shoulder in a friendly manner.

 

* * *

  
  


Once the door is closed and the five of you are at street level, Alphys turns to the four of you, sighing, “Th-there’s another reason I w-wanted to be the one to bring you t-to school.”

 

You nod, “Did your scanner pickup the Load from yesterday?”

 

She gulps, then nods, “Yes, i-it did. And, may I ask wh-why?”

 

You sigh, but before you could open your mouth to reply, Asriel speaks, “Felix died yesterday, that’s why.”

 

“O-oh, dear,” Alphys says, turning away, then back to you, “I c-couldn’t imagine what it’s l-like to remember something as gruesome as th-that.”

 

“Can we please move on from that?” Frisk quickly asks, obviously wanting to get off of the uneasy topic.

 

Alphys appears to be grateful that he wanted to get off of the topic as well, but the awkward silence that replaces it is not much better. The only sound that fills the silence in the group is the sound of Alphys’ claws clicking against the pavement.

 

Wanting to get out of it, you quickly go to the easiest topic to talk about.

 

“So, have you watched any good animes since coming to the Surface?”

 

And just like that, you’ve spent the rest of the time walking to school talking about anime with Alphys. Asriel and Chara were quietly groaning on occasion, while Frisk kind of looked slightly interested.

 

Once there’s a break in your talking, Frisk interjects, “Hey, Alphys?”

 

“Y-yes?” she responds.

 

“Would you mind… accompanying us to class?” he asks.

 

“Oh!” Alphys says, looking around nervously, “A-are you sure I could? I mean… there are al-already so many other Monsters here. I don’t th-think they w-would want anymore Monsters h-here than they already h-have.”

 

Frisk smiles, “If yesterday’s teacher allowed Papyrus to accompany us to class, then I’m sure they’ll allow you there today.”

 

“B-but what if they don’t?” Alphys responds, shaking slightly.

 

Chara gives an exasperated sigh, “From what he’s said, there’s a fifty percent chance that there will be science today.”

 

“R-really?” she asks, almost hopeful.

 

“Yes, all human schools have a science class. And we all know that science is right up your alley,” you mention, smiling. Chara and Asriel nod.

 

“From the single time I’ve had this type of class, we did something cool all day,” Frisk says, “And they allowed us to call in one adult we know to help.”

 

Alphys took a deep breath, as if hyping herself up, “Okay… I’ll join i-if it’s science. But wh-what’s the other fifty percent?”

 

“Gym,” Frisk grumbles.

 

“Yeah, I h-hope it’s science,” Alphys says in a high and strained voice.

 

The bell rings, and everyone files into the doors. Frisk is the first one of you to reach the schedule board, running his finger down the list. Once his finger stops, you can tell that you got science because he punches his fist in the air and whoops, “Follow me!” he says to you, marching off to the science room. Alphys looks somewhat relieved, and follows Frisk down the hallway.

 

* * *

  
  


You sit down in your designated seats, while Alphys stands awkwardly in the back corner, pretending she is supposed to be here. Once the teacher enters the room, he sees her, nods, then gets to the front of the classroom.

 

The teacher clears his throat after the bell rings, “Good morning, class. Today, as you all know, is science. Like all of the other schools that are in the program, the first day of science is dedicated to testing your knowledge in a science fair-esque setting. You are allowed to call in one adult to help you, whether it is human or Monster,” he looks at Alphys, “You may do whatever shows your knowledge of science, whether it be the most cliche of baking soda volcanoes, to anything short of a weapon,” that elicits a few laughs from students, “You have until lunch, then you will present. You may begin.”

 

The rest of the class disperses, some of them taking out their cell phones. The four of you group up with Alphys.

 

“So, wh-what do you guys want to d-do?” Alphys asks, clicking her claws together nervously. You switch your irises to purple, so that you could take note of what you should and shouldn’t do while remembering.

 

“Well for starters, I don’t think we’re gonna impress anyone with something very overused like a volcano or potato clock, as I don’t doubt that some of the other humans will use those,” Frisk says. A little note appears in the top left corner of your vision as you put that down as  _ No Cliches _ .

 

“But we still want it to look good, so that others will know what we’re capable of,” Asriel says, Determination showing in his expression. You put that as  _ Able to Impress _ .

 

“It should also be something no one else here has ever seen, or will ever see while here,” Chara says, looking very competitive. You put that as  _ Original (duh!) _ .

 

“John?” Alphys asks, slightly nervous on your suggestion.

 

You put your hand on your chin, thinking. This could really show what all of you are capable of, and could increase your chances of success in the school, though it might make things more difficult due to having done extremely well. You grit your teeth and frown, frustrated on what to do. The frustration causes a throb of pain in your leg, causing you to wince and absentmindedly clutch it.

 

You realize something. Your leg… That’s it!

 

“Guys, I know what we should do,” you say, looking up at them.

 

“Well, what is it? We’re all ears,” Chara says, crossing his arms.

 

You tell them what your idea is, with everyone nodding. Well, Alphys’ nod is a scared one, but she wants to put the negative past with it aside.

 

“D-do you remember all of the c-components required to make a rudimentary one?” she asks. You nod, to which she nods back, walking to an empty table with the other three.

 

You limp as fast as you can to the cabinets, and grab what you need; copper wiring, a timer, a couple of batteries, some construction paper and markers, a test tube, a metal stand.

 

You put the items into your inventory, and hobble back to the table past the teacher. You can hear him mutter “What just do you think you’re doing?” but doesn’t stop you.

 

You reach the table and lay down the items on it, smiling. You notice a few adults enter the classroom, and go to their respective groups. You smile pitifully at them, for they won’t be prepared for the Determination of your team.

 

“Alright, guys. Let’s get to work!” you almost shout excitedly at them. They nod, and begin to get to work.

 

* * *

  
  


It took a while, but your project is almost done, just needing a few finishing touches. The teacher said that you’ll get a few minutes to finish anything you need to do after lunch, but a few minutes is all you need for the final touches.

 

Currently, you are at recess, and some kids are talking about their science projects loudly with other groups of similar projects. Alphys has decided to stay in the classroom, mostly for the lack of social interaction required. Papyrus came back to the school today, giving the less fortunate students some homemade Monster food, and promising to stay long enough to watch your project.

 

“Pfft. Look at those idiots, sharing their information and projects,” Asriel scoffs.

 

You nod, “At least half of the humans had the most cliched projects of them all. No one will know what hit them.”

 

The bell rings, making your leg jittery, but you push past it, quickly glitching your small group (one person at a time) to the classroom for a head start of finishing, and so that you can better conceal your project from the rest of the class until your project is being graded.

 

When you finally glitch Frisk into the room, you can see that there were a couple of cups of instant noodles and a half-full bottle of Mountain Dew next to the project. You whistle at the state of the project, and feel gratitude at the marvel of Alphys’ handiwork during recess.

 

She notices you, and continues working on the project, “S-sorry for the mess. I saw a few th-things that could’ve been improved. I-I hope you didn’t mind.”

 

“Not at all,” you say, waving it off.

 

“Don’t we need one last thing?” Chara says, looking at you.

 

“Oh yeah,” you say, taking out your Soul. You pop out a fragment of it, then dismiss it.

 

You put away your Soul just in time, as the first classmate has entered the room. Papyrus enters the room as well, and runs over to you as he sees your group.

 

“I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT EVERYONE HAS IN STORE! AND, EVEN IF YOURS DOESN’T TURN OUT AS GREAT AS YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE, IT WOULD BE NO LESS GREAT TO ME AS THE OTHER PROJECTS WOULD’VE BEEN.”

 

“Thanks, Papyrus,” Frisk says, smiling.

 

“OF COURSE! THAT’S WHAT BROTHERS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER!” he narrows his sockets as he thinks of Sans, “EVEN IF THEY ARE A LAZYBONES.”

 

The rest of the class enters the room, and spends the last few minutes getting ready. Some of the adults give the two adult Monsters funny glances, but Papyrus still acts enthusiastically nonetheless.

 

“Psst. Hey,” Alphys whispers to you.

 

“Hmm?” you reply, indicating that you’re listening.

 

“After this…” she takes a breath, “WannawatchtheclipoflasttimelinewithmeandUndynetonight?”

 

You nod, having barely heard what she said, but understand nonetheless, “Was it named ‘ANIMEISREAL.clip’?”

 

Alphys blushes, “M-maybe?”

 

“I’ll join,” Asriel says, “Could see how the end of last timeline went, considering I wasn’t alive to witness it.”

 

“Think we’ll pass,” Chara states, and Frisk nods sheepishly, “Don’t want to re-watch getting our but kicked.”

 

“Afternoon, class,” the teacher says, walking into the room, “You may have a few minutes to do any finishing works.”

 

Considering that you were done, your group put a sheet over your project, and talked a bit among yourselves. Papyrus, however, was running around the room, talking animatedly with the others.

 

The testing began, and like a lot of cliches, your work was scheduled to be last, giving you time to talk. As suspected, most human students did the most cliche things. The teacher was not amused at how unoriginal they were. The most impressive one looked like an actual volcano, with multiple vents coming out of the side and ‘lava’ pathways for the fizz to go through. The Monster students were marginally better, implementing magic into their own projects, and, in fact, you think even one used an impressive display of Clarke’s Third Law. Others decorated their own projects and  with bullet patterns, though done sloppily. You don’t blame them, as they are only children.

 

Once the teacher gets to your project, Papyrus does the honors of lifting off the sheet of your project, and most students look either awed or disturbed. Some adults are looking ready to faint.

 

Using a dark construction paper background with information on it and several closely coiled wires, the five of you have made a rudimentary DT Extractor.

 

“What is this?” the teacher asks, holding his clipboard close.

 

“This is a Determination Extractor, made with things only found in the cupboard,” Frisk says, folding his hands behind his back.

 

“We figured that we should do something we are familiar with, not to mention not done before in situations like this,” Asriel says.

 

“YOU MADE A DT EXTRACTOR IN CLASS?” Papyrus says excitedly, “WOWIE! THAT IS TRULY GREAT! YOU ALL ARE DOING VERY WELL.”

 

The teacher cleared his throat, “Well, other than… extracting Determination, what does it do?”

 

“Oh, r-right,” Alphys says, looking at you and holding out her hand.

 

You nod, and take out the Soul fragment, but first you show it to the class, “Everyone… this is a fragment of a Soul. My Soul, to be specific,” the teacher looks slightly disturbed, but nods, “And, being a Soul of Determination, it is full of Determination, possibly the most potent source of power,” you lay the fragment in Alphys’ hand, to which she puts it beneath where the ‘mouth’ is, on the metal stand.

 

Using a bit of her magic, she points her finger near the batteries, and gives it a tiny spark. Immediately, the ‘eyes’ of it begin glowing Determination red, the extractor begins vibrating, and what you’d like to call the fireworks begins.

 

Thin streams of red Determination flow from the fragment to the coils that make up the ‘jaws’ of the extractor. All of your classmates give a mesmerized ‘ooh’ as the streams flow. As the Determination is extracted from the fragment, it becomes a duller red, until the last stream leaves the it. After a few seconds, the fragment crumbles into dust, then into nothingness. The glow of the ‘eyes’ fade into a soft, glowing red.

 

Chara stops the timer, “Two minutes forty three seconds.”

 

“Wow, y-you must have been very D-determined today,” Alphys says. You bow your head.

 

You take the test tube that collected the Determination, pull out the copper wiring from the top, and cork the test tube. You hold out the test tube to show everyone.

 

The teacher clears his throat once again, “May I ask, but how would one turn it into a fuel source? I don’t think that Determination would be able to react to be used for power.”

 

“Well, Determination is a rather unstable trait, so it’s unique in the way that it uses its own instability to power electronics with relative simplicity. However, stable Determination is unable to be used for powering anything that is not a Soul.”

 

“I see… but how would it be able to power electronics without electricity?”

 

You shrug, “I don’t know, but I do know that you could just take out batteries, stick copper to the ends of where the batteries go, then stick the other ends of the copper into the Determination, then it will work.”

 

“Very well,” he turns to the class, “You all have done well for today. The first true day of the class will be next week, as we don’t have enough time to start today.”

 

* * *

  
  


The class begins to pack up, and you check the time. Five minutes until the bell for end of school will ring.

 

The teacher turns to Alphys, “Miss Alphys, would it bother you if I could keep the extractor? To examine it in my free time? You have helped the boys very much in this endeavor.”

 

Alphys blushes, “Wh-what? Me? I only came here t-to help with them with th-the first day of this class. B-but sure, you may examine i-it.”

 

“Don’t sell yourself short, Alphys,” you say, “We’re grateful that you took the time to help us, and things couldn’t have gone any smoother without you.”

 

“I AGREE WITH THE HUMAN, ALPHYS,” Papyrus says, “YOU HAVE WONDERFUL FRIENDS, YOURSELF INCLUDED. YOU HELPED THEM, AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS.”

 

“Th-thanks, Papyrus,” Alphys says, blushing even more.

 

The bell rings, and the six of you leave the school. Near the SAVE point, you, Alphys, and Asriel diverge from Frisk, Chara, and Papyrus, then Papyrus diverges from them, running off to his own home.

 

“So, ready to see what happened at the end of the last timeline?” you ask Asriel.

 

“That depends, mind giving me any spoilers?” he responds, smirking.

 

“Yeah. But the only one I’ll give you is that there was a cool fight,” you say.

 

“You had better not be lying,” Asriel says, slightly laughing.

 

“Oh no!” you hear Alphys cry. You look up. What you see makes your eyes widen.

 

The grass in the yard of Alphys and Undyne’s house looks like it was trampled on several times, and the lock of the door was busted, the door ajar. You cover your mouth while Asriel cringes.

 

The three of you rush into the house, and it does not look any better. The floor is covered in booted dirt footprints, and all of the furniture, including wall decorations, are in one way or another torn or upturned, as if the intruders were searching very hard for something. You take another glance at the footprints. After a while, the footprints converge, then go into each room. You look into each room that they enter, but other than being ransacked, they lead nowhere, until the last room.

 

The last room they have apparently checked was Alphys’ indoor workshop, and in it was a few lab tables, a fridge, and a large terminal that looks a lot like the one in the Underground. The intruders appeared to have searched the worktables before coming in front of the terminal, then turned out of the room.

 

Alphys rushes to the terminal, frantically typing into it while repeatedly saying “Nononononono.”

 

“What’s wrong? Other than the fact that there were intruders,” Asriel says, going up to her.

 

You walk up beside them, a pit in your gut that tells you that something extremely wrong has happened at the terminal.

 

Alphys appears to stop at the location of files she needed, and her jaw drops in horror, holding her hands over her mouth.

 

You and Asriel gently shake her shoulders, “What is it?”

 

She takes a few deep breaths, but is still breathing shakily, and gulps, “The clip from last timeline…”

 

“What about it?” you shakily ask, hoping against hope that it’s not what you think it is.

 

Alphys slowly turns to you, and gravely says “The clip from last timeline… it’s gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this universe, there are two modes of Determination; Active, and Inactive. All humans have Inactive Determination, but only those with red as a Soul color can turn it active. Inactive Determination, however, is attracted to a combination of copper, magic, and electricity (as I think that the DT Extractor in-game sort of looks like it's made of copper). Also, the more copper used in making it, the further the range it can extract from. As for the 'glowing eyes' part of it? I don't really know, side effect? You come up with your own explanation for it if you want
> 
> The only thing I want to say here is the ending. Do you know who ransacked and proceeded to steal the clip from the last timeline? And what purposes did they have for that specific clip?
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	14. All That Matters is the End of a Long First Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go to gym class on Friday, and yet another big event happens

You wake up groggily as you recount what all has happened yesterday. Oh yeah. The science project, making a rudimentary DT Extractor, going over to Alphys and Undyne’s house, finding out it was ransacked, and the subsequent cleanup that Asgore paid for. Toriel even invited the two over for dinner while their house was being cleaned, to which Undyne accepted for the both of them.

 

You vigorously rub the sleep out of your eyes, and look around the room. It appears that you were the last one up, as you are the only one in the room, and their beds are still unmade. Shrugging, you get out of bed, change into day clothes, and go to the door, opening it.

 

“Boo!” Frisk, Asriel, and Chara shout, jumping out into your view in the hallway. You would have hit your head on the ceiling if it wasn’t for your leg, but your flinch is very noticeable nonetheless.

 

“Don’t do that,” you say loudly, holding your chest and getting your heart rate back to normal, “And why didn’t you wake me up?”

 

Chara’s laughter dies down, and he wipes the tears from his eyes, “Because I thought it would be funny to spook you.”

 

“And it was!” Asriel says, and high-fives Chara.

 

You look at Frisk. He just raises his hands in a defensive manner, as if saying ‘I was dragged into this’. You sigh, then move past the three to the kitchen.

 

Toriel, as usual, was in the middle of making breakfast as the four of you enter the dining room. One difference, however, was that Asgore was sitting at the table, and talking with Toriel. This is rather strange, as he usually doesn’t show up to breakfast, preferring to eat his breakfast about half an hour later. This must be important, for him to be out here this early.

 

“I just hope it goes well,” he says in a voice that suggests that he’s finished talking about something.

 

“I hope it does as well,” Toriel agrees, and finishes making what appears to be a snail omelette.

 

“What are you talking about?” Frisk asks, walking to the seat he usually sits at.

 

“Just some very important things for this day,” Asgore replies, then takes a sip of the tea he had.

 

“Like what?” you ask, climbing into your chair. You take the tea kettle full of Golden Flower Tea and pour yourself a cup.

 

“Oh, just some things you mustn’t worry yourselves about,” Toriel says, bringing out the plate of omelettes and setting them onto the table.

 

You can hear Chara and Asriel grumble something about ‘parents’ as they walk to their seats. You take an omelette from the plate.

 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Asgore says, taking an omelette as well, “Undyne called a few minutes ago, saying that she’s coming over after breakfast to escort you to school.”

 

“She’s lucky that she picked today,” Frisk mutters, “Because today is going to be…” he makes a mock gagging sound, “a gym day.”

 

“Just because an education is not for your mind does not mean it is not any less important as an education,” Toriel says, then turns to Asriel, “And just because Monsters are made of magic does not mean you do not need one as well.”

 

You can hear Asriel say “Yeah yeah, whatever you say,” under his breath before taking a bite of his omelette.

 

Breakfast continues about as normal as you’d expect, consisting partially of small talk, and mostly of the four of you attempting to coax more information from your parents, to which they both remain tight-lipped about it.

 

Slightly grumbling as you grab your lunch, you limp to the front door to wait for Undyne. This does not take long, as you hear rapid knocks on the door as the other three get to the entrance hall. You open the door before she could literally break it down with her knocks. She’s in her tank top and jeans, and quickly jumps into the house.

 

“What’s up, punks?” she shouts, “Ready for the most awesome day of school?! Alphie told me that your class will having gym today, so I might as well get my exercise done with you nerds!”

 

“Excellent,” Frisk breaths, as if having a hard time believing today’s luck. You could sympathize, considering that you have trained with her for the past few years. The very least you’re glad about is that she is very encouraging with her teachings.

 

“I’m gonna make sure you guys are whipped into tip-top shape! And I don’t want ANY slacking from any of you!” she whips her attention toward you, “Not even for your leg! Just tell the pain to go screw off while you are having fun!”

 

You give a shaky smile and say “Okay,” but in your head, you are repeating ‘I’m screwed’ like it was a mantra.

 

Undyne smiles widely, “Great! Now it’s time for a pre-warm up!” she dashes out of the door, yelling behind her “Last one there gets first round of being green!”

 

Groaning and attempting (but failing) to ignore the pain in your leg, you go into a light jog. Looks like the day will be very painful.

 

* * *

  
  


As expected, you had gym today, and unfortunately but expectedly, you came in dead last for the race to school, so you were first in line for Undyne. All you had to wait for the gym teacher to finish attendance and explain what activities you’ll be doing for the year.

 

“Archery?” you ask skeptically when she explained the activities, “Who would be teaching a class of fourth-graders archery? Thought it was more middle to high school level.”

 

The teacher sighs, “There was high demand among older students to do archery. That’s all that’s being said,” she continues with the list.

 

Finally, you were released into the gym, being told to “Do whatever you want as long as it requires physical activity.”

 

As expected, the Monster students have grouped and paired up at the far end of the gym, entering Fights with each other. Most of the human students group up at the other end, playing games that are more physical in nature, while a few watch the Fights with curiosity. Naturally, the four (technically five) of you gravitate towards the Monsters.

 

Undyne smiles at you, “Ready, punk?”

 

You smile challengingly, even though your leg still throbbing from the jog, “I was born for this exact moment!”

 

“That’s the spirit!” she says, then draws you into a Fight, pulling your Soul out as your surroundings turn to black and white.

 

You turn your Soul green, so that she’d be able to use green mode on Frisk and Chara later, and look up at Undyne, “Bring it on, Undyne.”

 

“Fuhuhu! En guarde!” she shouts, summoning a spear to look cool, “Let’s see how long you can go!” Spear of Justice begins playing.

 

Undyne summons four spears in front of you, to make sure that you remember how to block. You block all of them with ease. You decide to challenge her, saying that her attacks were not strong enough for you. Her attacks become faster the next turn. You manage to block all of her attacks despite their increased speed. You tell her that those attacks were an insult to both your and her skills. Damage increases for next turn, and you barely manage to block all of the spears.

 

For this turn, you hum to the sound of Spear of Justice. Undyne recognizes that you’re humming her theme, and becomes pumped up. The next attack becomes sporadic as she admires her spear. You get hit twice, but manage to stay standing, smiling and panting.

 

“Yes! Show them all the power of Determination! And tell the pain to just go shove it!” she shouts. You swear you could feel the waves of pressure caused by Undyne’s fist pumping all the way from where you are.

 

You block some more mini spears, some of them yellow, and use this turn to turn your Soul back to red. Undyne runs over to you and picks you up.

 

*Undyne suplexes you without causing damage, just to prove that she could.

 

Your head is slightly spinning from the suplex, but Undyne is the type of fighter who wouldn’t take advantage of an opponent’s weakness, so she allows you to reorient yourself before you choose what you want for your turn. You choose challenge, holding out your hand with your palm upwards, and bending your fingers towards you, as a way of saying ‘come at me’.

 

Undyne laughs, then uses the attack where spears appear from around the bullet board and go towards you. You get hit a few times, due to your limp, but remain standing upright, as if in defiance of your pain.

 

You’re about to begin your turn when Frisk enters the Fight, looking worried.

 

“The teacher said that if you don’t stop Fighting, she’ll have to have you removed from the premises,” he turns to you, “And you’ll have to stay in during recess.”

 

You sigh in a disappointed way. The Fight was getting to a good part. You select Spare.

 

“I hope you realize that you were being a buzzkill!” Undyne shouts to no one in particular, but selects Spare as well. The world fades back in, and your Soul glitches back into your chest cavity. You sigh.

 

When sound from the world comes back in, your are nearly flattened by the deafening sound of cheers. It appears that the entire class was watching your Fight.

 

“That was awesome!” one student shouts excitedly.

 

“Did any of those spears hurt?” another one asks, frowning.

 

“What was up with that weird glitchy glowing heart thingy?” you hear someone ask.

 

“Calm down everyone. It was simply a friendly Fight between two friends,” you say, holding up your hands in an attempt to quiet everyone, to no avail.

 

“You mean between two BESTIES,” Undyne says, giving you a noogie. You whine but laugh. She let’s go of your head.

 

The teacher walks up to you and Undyne, “Please do not do that again. I would hate to give you a detention on any other Friday of the year.”

 

Undyne smiles widely, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen here again,” she turns to the rest of the class, “Now, who wants to see how many squirts I can bench press?” and the class cheers.

 

The teacher looks baffled and facepalms, but you can tell that she is smiling and quietly laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the morning goes about as well as you had expected it to go with Undyne. The human students that weren’t afraid of Undyne from being a Monster quickly learned that she will accept any challenge that you throw at her, with her reasoning being to prove that it is possible for her to do it. Currently, she is going through with a dare to stack as many unused chairs in the cafeteria as she could and hauling it across the room on her back.

 

“Ngahhh!” she shouts, hoisting the chairs onto her shoulders. The stack wobbles dangerously and nearly touches the ceiling, but she manages to balance them well enough. You just sit at your table, munching on your sandwich as you watch her walk quickly across the cafeteria. She manages to do it, and sets down the stack carefully.

 

“Knew you could do it,” you say, shoving the last of your sandwich into your mouth.

 

“Might need a little help getting them off of each other, though,” she responds, but still admiring her handiwork.

 

“Got it,” you say, looking around for help. You spot a skeleton Monster among the Monsters and walk over to them, as all skeleton Monsters excel to some extent in blue magic, regardless of age.

 

“What do you want?” she asks, eyeing you nervously with her eye lights.

 

“How well can you use blue magic?” you ask.

 

“Oh!” she says, “I’m actually pretty good. Do you need help with it?”

 

“Yeah,” you say, pointing at the tower of chairs.

 

“Okay, let me see,” the skeleton Monster says, holding her left arm out as her left socket glows blue and yellow.

 

The stack of chairs are surrounded by a blue glow, and begin tipping backwards slowly with extreme precision. The chairs gently touch the ground, and once the glow dissipates, students claim the chairs and bring them back to their respective tables.

 

The Monster sighs as she lowers her arm and brings back her eye lights.

 

“Thank you,” you say.

 

“You’re welcome,” she replies, going back to her lunch.

 

You return to the lunch table you usually sit at with your brothers, and finish your lunch, waiting for the bell to ring. However, the bell does not ring.

 

The intercom system activates, and the speaker clears their throat, “Attention. If you are at lunch, do not go to recess at the bell. Instead, you are to go to the auditorium. Classes not at lunch are required to report to the auditorium as well.”

 

Conveniently, once the announcements end, the bell rings. There is chatter among your classmates about what it will be about, but you have your suspicions about what it will be. You clean up your spot, then follow the other three out of the cafeteria, towards the auditorium.

 

Once everyone who is able to is seated in the auditorium, the lights are dimmed, and the stage lights are brightened. When you look around, you can see that there is a camera crew, so you figure that this even must be important enough for it to be broadcast on live television. When you turn back to the stage, you can see Asgore standing in the middle of it.

 

The rest of the audience is quickly shushed, and when everyone is sufficiently quiet, Asgore clears his throat, “Howdy, everyone. To those who do not know, I am the former King of Monsters, Asgore Dreemurr,” there is light applause from the Monster section of the auditorium, “And today, I have something important to tell you, and it is about magic.”

 

There are a mix of excited and skeptical whispers, with some of the skeptical whispers sounding like they still doubt the existence of magic. You mentally scoff at them, knowing that magic does exist in any form.

 

Asgore raises his hands, and everyone quickly quiets down, and he continues, “Well, as you may know, we Monsters are made of magic, and you have learned that magic is still used among some groups of humans, some of them less… friendly with it.”

 

“How can we tell that you’re not lying about all the magic?” one boy shouts.

 

“Be quiet. Don’t you know that it’s rude to interrupt?” his teacher scolds, but Asgore waves it off.

 

“No, I understand what you’re asking; it would be hard to believe that beings like Monsters would have such easy access to such abilities, but if it helps, then I would be willing to show you all an example of magic,” Asgore says. The amount of cheering that goes on pretty much substitutes as confirmation, “Alright then, if you really want, then I will show you a bit of my magic.”

 

He holds his paw out in front of him, the palm facing upward. Then, with a small flash of light, a fireball the size of his palm appears, hovering over his paw. You think you could hear a few screams from the front row, but they are drowned out by the ‘oohs’ of most of the human students. You also hear some of the Monster students in awe as well, considering that you don’t get to see the former king use magic with your own eyes very often.

 

With a wave of his hand, Asgore dissipates the fireball, “That, everyone, was just a little bit of the strength of magic that I could use,” he spots a student raising their hand, “Yes, little one?”

 

“What are the strongest types of Monsters?” they ask innocently.

 

“Ah, good question,” Asgore clears his throat, “Well, it is commonly agreed among most Monster scholars that the two most powerful types of Monsters are skeleton Monsters and Boss Monsters, and I myself am an example of the second.”

 

“What makes skeletons so strong if they’re only bones?” a girl shouts out.

 

Asgore appears to be slightly uncomfortable, but answers, “Because skeleton Monsters are descended from reanimated human skeletons,” he touches his chin in thought, “Are there any skeleton Monsters willing to come up?”

 

You see a few skeletons get out of their chairs, walk up the aisle, then onto the stage. Some humans, mostly adults, audibly cringe at the sight of the skeletons. You notice that one of the skeletons is the one that you asked for help earlier. Of the four skeletons on stage, she is the only one with eye lights. You do not know the reason for this.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, these four children are examples of skeleton Monsters,” Asgore says, walking behind them, “As you could observe, they are anatomically similar to humans, except they are almost entirely made of magic, much like myself.”

 

“However, there is one thing that sets us apart from other Monsters,” the skeleton Monster who appears to be the oldest says, “True to our history, we have something that is sort of like a Soul trait, except it manifests in our socket or sockets instead of our Souls,” the other three nod once.

 

“That is, as far as I know, true,” Asgore says, nodding, then turns back to the audience, “Are there any more questions before we continue?”

 

“Yes, just one,” a voice says, and for some reason it causes all of your hairs to rise, “When will you go back to where you belong?”

 

There’s the sound of several bullets being summoned, and the sound of glass shattering as the lights of the auditorium are broken, darkness surrounding you and screams ringing out.

 

* * *

  
  


In a desperate attempt to be able to see again, you summon your Soul. Frisk and Chara follow your lead, summoning their Souls as well. At least a few rows are illuminated from the sheer Determination radiating from your Souls. Asriel and Asgore simultaneously summon fireballs, and you could tell that they are harmless ones.

 

The combined light is enough to make out other students, but it isn’t as bright as it was before the lights were shot out. Asgore makes his way towards the four of you, making sure to not step on any shattered glass. Within seconds, he is at your row.

 

“Is anyone hurt?” he asks once he has made sure the four of you were safe. There is a murmuring of people saying that they’re alright, “Good. I don’t want anyone to be hurt, whether it be human or Monster.”

 

“Are you sure you’re not saying that just for the press?” the same voice rings out from the direction of the stage. You whip your head in the direction of the stage, but as you do, it feels as if you were hit very hard in the face with a brick wall. The amount of ancient magic in the air is almost tangible.

 

There appears to be a yellow-tinted bubble surrounding the stage, and on a platform above it are seven figures, and they are all wearing vantablack robes with colored markings next to their eyes. You’re guessing that those represent their Soul colors. An eerie medieval-and-malevolent-sounding Theme flows around the auditorium, people clapping their hands over their ears to make it stop, but Themes aren’t heard through that.

 

“You… what are you doing here?” Asgore asks, apparently knowing about them.

 

“Just telling the audience the truth,” the figure with yellow markings says.

 

“To every and all human students who attend this school,” the red-marked figure begins, “Do not trust those monsters. They WILL kill you, and take your Soul for their own nefarious purposes.”

 

If their goal was to sow chaos among most humans, then they have succeeded, as most of the teachers are ushering the humans away from the Monsters, casting fearful glances back at them. Only two or three staff members are sticking with the Monsters, one of them you recognize as your science teacher. You have a big clue on the reason they stayed behind with the Monsters.

 

The red-marked figure turns towards the teachers, “Looks like humanity has traitors in its midst. However, you can be disposed of later, for there are much more traitorous humans that need to be dealt with,” they turn towards the five of you, but more specifically, the three of you.

 

“Ah, yes,” the purple-marked figure says, “The three biggest traitors of humanity. The First Traitor of Humanity,” they point at Chara, “The Savior,” they point at Frisk, “And the Holder of the Fallen,” they point at you.

 

“First Traitor of Humanity? I wasn’t even alive a decade ago,” Chara says, putting up a bluff that, in your opinion, was very convincing.

 

The seven figures begin laughing, as if he said a funny joke to them, “Do not play such petty games with us. We remember the exact day you exiled yourself one thousand years ago, and one does not tend to forget the face of a traitor so soon.”

 

“Even if what you said was true- which I doubt- How would have you lived so long without dying?” Chara continues bluffing, though you could hear extreme nervousness creeping into his voice.

 

The figures make themselves look impressive, before stating “Did you really expect that we, the casters of the Seven Soul Barrier, were to die from something as simple as aging?”

 

Plot twist. You did not expect that they would still be alive after nearly thirteen-hundred years.

 

“Now, we have another point to get across,” the cyan-marked Magician says slowly and carefully, “We have to  **_kill_ ** one of you traitors, so as the rest shall get the message,” the Magicians begin talking among themselves.

 

Asgore is glaring at the Magicians, and with an intensity that only Toriel could outmatch. You could see why, considering that the very people who imprisoned the Monsters were still alive and in front of him. You saw him clenching and unclenching his fists, as if wanting to summon his trident, but knowing that he can’t do it without severe backlash.

 

The Magicians appear to have come to an agreement, as they turn to face you, “We have come to a conclusion. Though you two,” they point at Chara and Frisk, “have shown yourselves to be stalwart in your support of the Monsters, neither of you have been as fierce or defiant as that one,” they point at you, “So, you have to die, and no traitor is allowed to say their farewells.”

 

The blue Magician raises their arm, cloaked in blue, and you are pulled into the yellow bubble faster than you could sort your thoughts. You attempt to glitch out of it, but this bubble is appearing to disable your magic. You are pulled in front of the red Magician, and set down at the edge of the platform. You must be at least twenty feet up.

 

The red Magician holds out their arm, eyes glowing red, and a red pike forms in their hand.

 

“Though, it is customary for a traitor’s last glance to be of those whom they betrayed, and we cannot deny them that,” they say, and begin to take off their masks. You are paralyzed in fear as they do it, and when they look at you, you have a sinking feeling in your gut.

 

Their eyes are not only glowing with their Soul colors, but their irises also burn the same color, making them unique among magic users. Before you are seven men and women, all appearing in their middle ages.

 

“Traitor of humanity and Holder of the Fallen, by the orders of us, the creators of the Seven Soul Barrier… We sentence you to death, and may the dust of your so called ‘friends’ on this day of your death serve as a message to all other Soul Takers,” the red Magician says, and readies his Determined pike.

 

You gasp as you feel two sharp pains on both sides of your chest within two seconds of each other, as he punctures both of your lungs cleanly through, though luckily none of the Souls were hit.

 

As you struggle to inhale deeply, the Magician shoves you backwards off of the platform, sending you plummeting towards the stage.

 

* * *

  
  


If you had enough air in your lungs, then you would have had the air knocked right out you. Unfortunately, both of your lungs were punctured, so that was not an option. You can hear your family shout your name as you hit the ground. By some miracle, you didn’t break anything on impact, though you did hear a sickening series of pops and cracks coming from your entire body. You slightly bounced once or twice, as well.

 

“How curious,” the red Magician says, peering over the platform at your battered form, “Most people would’ve died outright from one stab, yet this one has survived two of them and a thirty-one-foot drop, and is  _ still _ trying to stay alive. He must be a lot more Determined than we anticipated.”

 

Your already shallow breathing becomes more raspy as you feel your lungs beginning to collapse in on themselves, making your breaths even more shallow. You hear soft footprints climb the stairs, followed by harder footprints of shoes.

 

Asgore kneels in the corner of your vision, and you will yourself to look at him, eyes tearing up from lack of breath. He looks into your eyes, and loudly states “You can’t give up just yet… John! Stay Determined!”

 

You attempt to smile, nod, and tell him that you will, but all you could do is cough with the last of your breath as blood begins to fill your mouth and throat, causing you to gurgle on your own blood. You think you could taste a little bit of Determination mixed into it.

 

"I highly doubt he'll survive, considering that this weapon is the very thing that erected the Barrier," the red Magician says condescendingly.

 

“Just have to point out as well, but there’s a less than .1% chance of him surviving even if he does stay Determined,” the purple Magician states.

 

…

 

That’s it! You should attempt to use your Determination to make sure you could live long enough to get healed!

 

Summoning up all of the Determination you can muster, you spit out as much blood as you could, but that makes your head spin, so you stop. The others seem to appear thankful that you’re well enough to do that, but in truth, your condition was still worsening.

 

“How interesting,” the red Magician says, mostly intrigued and very slightly in disbelief, “He is using his Determination to prolong his life, though at the cost of increasing the amount of time everyone will watch him suffer,” he shakes his head, “For what purposes, I cannot fathom.”

 

Using the last of the strength you have from Determination, you whisper “Green magic,” and close your eyes, wanting to preserve as much energy as you can.

 

You feel yourself being picked up, for a reason you can’t remember. You just want to go to sleep, and tell whoever was doing this to let you stay in bed for another five minutes. You must have had a pretty bad nightmare, as two spots on your chest and another two spots on your back have warm sweat running down your torso. You feel clammy as well, and you must have also not slept much, as you could hardly move a muscle and you’re short of breath.

 

You think you are being put onto your bed, though you don’t remember it being this hard. You think someone is putting a blanket onto you, as you now feel warmth all over you.

 

* * *

  
  


Your breathing becomes easier, and your movements come quicker than you remember. Finally, your thinking and memories come into place, and you remember the situation at hand. You open your eyes, and see the lunch lady hovering over you, her eyes glowing green, and once she notices that you’re now fully conscious, she stops, and she takes her hands away from your chest.

 

You are encompassed with the hugs of Asgore and your brothers, all relieved that you made it.

 

“I th-thought we almost l-lost y-you,” Frisk says shakily, “You were l-literally s-seconds away from d-death.”

 

You attempt to make them know that you’re alright, by saying “So… when does my certificate for being part of one of history’s most cliched moments come in? I expect it to come in the mail shortly.”

 

He gives a shaky and hollow laugh, but that’s all you need for right now.

 

Once the embrace ends, everyone turns towards the Magicians, who just stand on their platform indifferently.

 

Asgore takes a single bold step forward, rage in his expression, “Now, answer me on this: Why would you attempt to murder someone in cold blood just because you deem them as traitors due to helping those he wants to help? And if you were willing to stoop that low just to send us Monsters a message in the name of the same fear that made your people to go to war with us over a millennium ago, then you are poorly misguided. Get out of this town and away from Monsterkind before you have to force my  _ hand _ ,” at the last word, he raises his paw in a fist and brings it down swiftly, his trident forming in his fist and hitting the ground with the bottom of it, the sound coming out like a large bell was hit. This must be one of the reasons that shows that he is still fit to be the king. There is silence in the auditorium.

 

The Magicians look unimpressed, “And show that the King of Monsters is a murderous Soul stealer wanting GODhood? Go ahead, prove us right.”

 

Asgore shakes his head, “No. Even if I can manage to strike any of you down, I will  _ never _ take any of your Souls. I would rather shatter them myself than to allow any Monster, including myself, to absorb such wicked Souls. I will do everything in my power to protect anyone from your people, whether it be humans or Monsters, as everyone deserves to live under the sun,” he stamps down his trident once again, as if what he was saying was final.

 

The red Magician rolls his eyes, “We do not have the time for this nonsense, though do heed this warning,” he turns away from the room, “If you do not go back to Mount Ebott of your own accord by next Friday, then we  _ will _ turn every last one of your kind to dust after our group’s biggest event in history,” he looks behind them, “Choose wisely.”

 

The Magicians disappear in blurs the color of their Souls, and the platform disappears in green sparkles that rapidly fade.

 

Asgore sighs hard, then releases his trident, and it fades out of existence before it could clink against the ground. Everyone in the room is staring at him, some in awe, and some in fear.

 

To alleviate some of the people’s fear, he just smiles in his kindly way, “Now, would anyone like some tea? I find it to be quite relaxing after something as stressful as that. I even have some lavender tea, for those who can’t drink Golden Flower Tea.”

 

Some of the other students begin giggling at the absurdity of his offer, but in a good way, while some of the teachers who ushered their students away give extremely nervous and shaky smiles. You take some Golden Flowers out of your inventory.

 

You doubt anyone here will look at him the same way ever again. Whether that is a good thing or bad thing… well, only next Friday will tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put in the segment about skeleton Monsters just to show that, while they're not common, they aren't uncommon as well. In this interpretation, most of them live in New Home, with the main remnants of a human ancestry being the color of their sockets when using full power
> 
> I also felt like there wasn't enough Asgore in this story, so I decided to have him do a speech at the boys' school, so that he could have more time to talk. Also, to me, there is one major difference between the Magicians attempting to kill John and Asgore striking down the six children (because in this fic's history, all six Souls managed to reach him) is emotion. The Magicians felt no remorse toward killing John (not even the green Magician *gasp*), while Asgore felt extreme guilt and remorse toward striking them, and still feels it to this day
> 
> Speaking of the Magicians... Yeah, they are the original creators of the Barrier. Kudos to my brother, Slayerite, for giving me that idea. My reasoning with them living for so long is that, the more powerful a mage is, the longer their lifespan is, and the slower they age. With the Seven Original Magicians being the most powerful of them all, they are effectively biologically immortal, meaning that they can only die through being killed
> 
> I can't think of anything else to put there for now, so in that case, see you next chapter!


	15. All That Matters is an MTT-Brand Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get an important call from Mettaton, and have an interview on live television

You are staring at your phone, expecting what Alphys said was a ‘very important call’, though she did not specify what made it so important. All she said was that it was important.

 

You jump where you’re sitting as you feel your phone begin vibrating, and you quickly answer it before the ringtone could play, “Hello?”

 

“that’s not how you start a knock-knock joke,” Sans’ voice comes through the receiver. You can hear the wink in his voice.

 

“Saaans,” you groan, “Why are you calling right now? I’m waiting for an important call.”

 

“what? you think i’m not an important enough call? i’m honestly offended here,” he says, but you know that he’s only faking offense in his voice.

 

“Ugh,” you sigh, “What do you want?”

 

“just checking up on you, considering what went down at the assembly yesterday,” Sans says.

 

“No need to worry; Death and I are good friends. I’m still waiting for him to accept my friend request on Storyteller,” you did not mention that you were making a reference to how he is Death in Reapertale. Sans still needs to accept your request, in any case.

 

“that’s good to hear. papyrus was worried for you, and i called you just to satisfy him. gaster’s currently making sure he stays okay until i get back downstairs.”

 

“Okay? That’s good to hear, I guess?” you say, unable to think of anything else that needs to be said.

 

“good, good. well, be seeing you later, kiddo,” you can hear the receiver move away from Sans’ mouth as if he were hanging up, but he apparently brought the receiver back to his mouth, “oh yeah, might be seeing you tomorrow.”

 

You furrow your brow in confusion, “Why?”

 

“ _ patella _ the truth, i think that you should  _ bone up _ on your questioning  _ skulls _ , ‘cause i could be telling you a  _ fibula _ , but i know about what your special call is going to about, and gotta say… you had better be prepared for tomorrow.”

 

“Can you give me any specifics?” you ask, annoyed.

 

“nah, would be too much work. welp, again, see ya,” he says, then hangs up.

 

Sighing, you decide to just play around on your phone until you receive the call. You check the mobile games store, but most of the games appear to be not to your tastes. However, for the ‘recommended for you’ category, there were a few apps that appear to be made by the Mage Corps, in order to educate the public about the existence of magic. One of them appears to be about the common magics of each Soul trait, with a paid feature to test if they have magical potential. You immediately download the application.

 

You were about halfway through the first entry (Bravery), before your phone began vibrating. You wait a few seconds for the ringtone to play, and when it does, you are mildly surprised to hear Death by Glamour comes from your speakers. You immediately pick up, “Hello?”

 

“Hello, darling. As you know, it is I,” you can practically hear him perform a pose, “Mettaton.”

 

“Oh! Hello there, Mettaton!” you say, redundantly waving, “And may I ask… were you the important caller that Alphys told me would call later?”

 

“Why, yes I am,” he answers, “Do you want to know why?”

 

“Yes I would,” you reply. You already have a feeling you know what it is, but you want to hear it from Mettaton himself.

 

“Well, sorry I was gone for the week, but the news is… I finally have my own studio, and tomorrow is the first live airing with it!” he says proudly.

 

You can’t help but smile at that, “Wow, that’s really amazing to hear! Though I’ve got to ask; how does notifying me fit into the equation?”

 

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Mettaton says, clearing his throat, “Well, you know that for the past few years, you have guest-starred with my fabulous self on multiple occasions back in the Underground.”

 

“Right,” you say, somewhat following where he is going.

 

“I just wanted to let you know that I want you to be with me on this monumental occasion, as a thanks. I even had your very own dressing room built into it.”

 

“That depends,” you tap your chin, “Will it get in the way of my studies for school? On school days, I mean.”

 

“Oh no, I’m making sure that they won’t get in the way of your schooling, as my favorite little co-star still needs his schooling done,” he pauses, “By any chance, would any of your brothers like to join as well? I already called Sansy for tomorrow, as a warm-up act for the audience.”

 

“Hmm, I’ll have to ask them about it later, but I’ll get back to you later, once I’ve got an answer from all of them,” you say, shrugging.

 

“Fantastic! Be seeing you then!” and with that, he hangs up.

 

Smiling, you change back to finish reading about Bravery Souls. Once you’re done, you go as fast as you could out of your room (which isn’t very fast, considering your limp).

 

* * *

  
  


“Bye, Mom,” you and Frisk say to Toriel as you are standing at the Riverperson’s dock that was recently dug out in the street the next day. Frisk was the only one who agreed to go with you, as Chara and Asriel just groaned at the mention of Mettaton, so you took that as a no.

 

“Are you sure that you’re okay with eating lunch there?” Toriel asks, “I know that you want to support Mettaton, but we all know what kind of… food, he usually has there.”

 

“I’m sure that we could stomach it, even when such things are… acquired tastes,” Frisk says, looking at his feet. You know that he still is getting used to the taste of snail cuisine, as none of your timelines were Hard Mode (thank goodness).

 

“Alright, if you’re okay with it,” Toriel sighs, giving you both hugs and turning away, back to the house.

 

You and Frisk turn toward the Riverperson, who was expecting a you to give a destination. The only reason you kept in the good graces of them after you learned how to shortcut was that you would take their ride when you needed a way to de-stress yourself.

 

“Mettaton’s studio,” you say to them. They nod, inviting you on.

 

Halfway through the ride, the Riverperson does their usual slowing down of the boat to give their cryptic tip, “Tra la la. Take a deep breath, just to make sure that you are still breathing.”

 

You don’t know why, but that quote caused a shiver to run up your spine.

 

After a couple more minutes, the boat comes up to the dock next to the studio, to which you and Frisk step off, waving your goodbyes to the Riverperson. You go up the stairs and enter the studio. As expected, there were a lot of Mettaton-themed items in the lobby. You walk up to the receptionist.

 

Their face brightens up at the sight of you, mostly from seeing such a familiar face, “Oh, hello dears. Mettaton told me to tell you to go to your dressing room, and he’ll meet with you there shortly,” they point in the direction of where the dressing room should be.

 

You and Frisk nod, walking towards your dressing room and entering it. Frisk lets out a low whistle, pointing, “Sheesh, your dressing room will always look the same, whether it be in the Underground or on the Surface.”

 

“Shaddup,” you respond, slapping his finger so he would stop pointing.

 

“Ow,” he replies, rubbing his hand where he was slapped by you.

 

“That’s what you get for pointing at what would technically be my stuff,” you tell Frisk.

 

“Yeah, well I bet I will be using this place occasionally,” he says, sticking out his tongue at you.

 

“Oh, you will be using this place frequently, darling,” Mettaton says as he walks into the dressing room. You and Frisk turn to him.

 

“What will the interview be about?” you ask as he begins applying some beauty products (which you’re not a fan of) to your face.

 

“Oh, just a bit of this and a bit of that,” he replies, and begins working on your hair, tugging knots out of it. He works a lot faster now than a few years ago.

 

You spot Frisk silently giggling at your misery, but you quickly shoot him a glare that says that he is next, to which he stiffens in apparent horror, and runs into the next room over. You smile in satisfaction, as Frisk knows that the horror hits him next.

 

“There, darling. Done,” he says, turning you to the mirror. To be honest… you didn’t look as bad as you thought. You mentally wipe sweat off of your brow as Mettaton continues talking, “Now, I’ve got another surprise for you. Go look in your wardrobe.”

 

You walk up to the wardrobe and open the door, eyes widening in surprise. In it are several MTT brand shirts of different color, though all bearing stripes. It even included what you call your signature red with golden yellow stripes sweater, though on this one, there was the MTT logo.

 

You turn to Mettaton, “How did you get MTT brand things this fast?”

 

He flips his hair, even though it goes back over his right eye, “I have my ways,” he winks, “It even has those holographic images that everyone on the Surface has been talking about.”

 

“Okay then,” you say, changing into the sweater as fast as you could. You turn to Mettaton as soon as you finish, hands on your hips, “How do I look?”

 

“Absolutely adorable,” he exclaims, brushing an imaginary tear away from his eye. You feel your face heat up in embarrassment.

 

“Now it’s Frisk’s turn,” you say and smile evilly, once the embarrassment has ebbed away.

 

“My pleasure,” Mettaton replies, then turns to the next room.

 

You walk towards the next room, loudly saying “Come out, my Frisky brother. You need to look BEAUTIFUL for the interview.”

 

* * *

  
  


There are a mix of laughs, groans, and confused sounds coming from the audience. Frisk is still pouting in his spot behind stage, from when you and Mettaton teamed up on him. In your opinion, his makeup was roughly on par with your own. He was in his own MTT version of his signature blue with purple stripes sweater. You can hear Sans do his routine behind the curtain.

 

“everyone- well, the monsters at least, knows about our judgement hall, right?” there are murmurs from the audience, “well, i was meeting frisk there the other day, and he told me a joke. it wasn’t the best one i’ve heard, but i told him that if jokes could kill, i would’ve died three times already,” there are laughs from the audience.

 

“Ugh, that’s the fifth joke in a row about the past few timelines,” Frisk groans, putting his face in his hands. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who you are), the makeup stayed on his face.

 

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to easily forgive someone who has killed you a few times,” you say, grimacing.

 

Frisk glares at you, “I still haven’t forgiven YOU for bailing the date with Alphys in the first timeline.”

 

You chuckle, “Petty, much? Well everything worked out well. Plus neh,” you say, sticking out your tongue on the last word. He returns the gesture.

 

Sans comes out from behind the curtain, having finished his routine, “your turn, kiddos,” he looks at Frisk, “and looks like someone’s glaring  _ knives _ at me.  _ cut _ it out, i’d say,” he winks.

 

Frisk gives a groan that would make Papyrus proud, and stomps past Sans. Sans looks at you, pointing his thumb behind him, “what’s his problem? looked like he wanted to  _ kill me _ with glares.”

 

You sigh, “Not a fan of the past few timelines.”

 

“Darling,” Mettaton calls from behind the curtains, “Everyone’s waiting for you.”

 

You wave a goodbye to Sans and rush out onto the stage, waving at the audience. There are a couple of chairs at a ninety-degree angle of Mettaton, and Frisk is sitting in one of them. You take your place beside him.

 

“Now, darlings, let me introduce, to those of you who don’t know, the individuals known as Monsterkind’s ambassadors, Frisk and John!” Mettaton says, clapping. The audience claps as well, but you notice some that sound forced, “Would either of you like to say anything before we continue?”

 

Frisk shakes his head, but you speak up, “I have something to say.”

 

“Well then, will you please say it then?” he cocks a brow.

 

You look at him, “It has been nearly three years since my first interview with you, and back then, you were just a metal box sitting on top of a unicycle.”

 

Mettaton gasps dramatically, “Scandalous! And it has been nearly three years already? But I must say…” he poses, “What did you think of me back then?”

 

“You’re fabulous in any form,” you say, smiling.

 

“Of course I am,” he poses yet again, and gets back into a formal position, “Now, the first part of this is mostly myself asking questions on behalf of Monsterkind, and the second part will be my fabulous audience asking their questions,” the audience cheers, “Is that alright?”

 

“Yes,” you and Frisk say in unison.

 

“Fantastic! First question is to Frisky darling; why did you agree to become one of Monsterkind’s ambassadors despite having little to no contact with us prior?” Mettaton asks. You guessed that beforehand, he had a poll on what to ask before airing. You look at Frisk.

 

He has his face scrunched up in concentration, attempting to come up with an answer that won’t reveal too much. He has succeeded, because he smooths his facial muscles and smiles, “Well, I just had a feeling that, deep down, I already knew them, and they already knew me as well.”

 

The entire audience gives an ‘aww’ of adoration at Frisk’s claim, including Mettaton.

 

The other questions were of similar makeup, and now you’re on the final question.

 

“Now, for the final question of Monsterkind; we all know that the two princes, Asriel and Chara died,” the audience seems confused, “but you two appear to act like it’s no big deal when you saw them alive once again,” the audience appears even more confused, “Monsterkind wishes to know how this was possible, considering that you two appear to know more than you are letting on.”

 

You look at your feet, then at the audience, then back at Mettaton, sighing, “Well, I was the main reason for their reason of coming back,” the audience trains its eyes on you.

 

“Mind telling us, darling?” Mettaton asks, leaning toward you.

 

You shake your head, “There’s too much dangerous information I don’t want to divulge relating to it, but I will tell you this; I jumped into the CORE.”

 

Most of the audience is confused, while Mettaton gives a shocked expression, “Darling, do you know how dangerous that would’ve been?” you nod, “Well then why did you do that?”

 

You shrug, and mumble “Had a hunch.”

 

He appears to understand that you don’t want to continue talking about it, so he nods, “Well, that’s all the questions that we have for this part. Stay tuned, and we’ll be back after the break. Blooky?”

 

Napstablook does their equivalent of nodding, and turns on It’s Showtime, and the audience begins chatting among itself.

 

* * *

  
  


The break ends, and you put your tea back into your inventory. Mettaton claps his hands, and It’s Showtime stops playing. He turns to the audience, “Who would like to ask one of these darlings the first question?”

 

There are several dozen hands that go up, so Mettaton picks the first one that went up, which belongs to a woman, “Excuse me, um… John? You mentioned at the beginning that you had an interview with Mettaton a few years ago, but Monsters weren’t up here that long ago. So that was implying that you fell into Mount Ebott a few years ago?”

 

“Yes,” you sigh, not wanting these types of questions.

 

“Oh. Okay,” she says, sitting back down.

 

Another person raises their hand, “Why were some people in the assembly footage clapping their hands over their ears?”

 

“Oh, of course. The footage where I was literally seconds away from death,” you say in a bored voice, “Well didn’t you hear it?”

 

“Hear what? I heard nothing,” they respond.

 

You think for a few seconds before realizing what was wrong, “Ooh, that’s right. The camera must have not had a Theme Converter.”

 

The audience seems very confused, “A theme converter? What is such a thing?” one man asks.

 

You clear your throat, “Well, first thing is that magic has a unique thing to it, which results in it creating music that can vary from describing a place to certain situations. These are called Themes, though the ability to hear them without a Theme Converter is extremely rare. Blooky and I are a couple of individuals gifted with this ability, and are often called Listeners due to it.”

 

Part of the audience is in awe, but others are unimpressed, “How should we know that we can trust you?”

 

Frisk stands up, “I can do my Theme,” everyone looks at him, “I mean, I can’t hear them myself, but I know that some can be heard without the ability,” he looks at you, “Like mine and his.”

 

Mettaton looks concerned, “Are you sure you want to do that? You’ll be showing the entire world your Souls, and I don’t think a Fight would be wise at this time.”

 

You give a reassuring smile, but turn to the audience, “Please do not mention how my Soul looks, as I already have enough on my head for it,” the audience seems confused at your remark, “You’ll see in a moment,” you turn toward Frisk, “Ready?”

 

He nods, and pulls out his Soul. Cue the audience giving sounds of awe. He looks at you, and you can feel his intent to initiate a Fight pull your Soul into existence, and the world around you darkens and turns black and white. Hopes and Dreams begins playing.

 

You turn to where you know the audience is, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Hopes and Dreams, the Theme of the Angel,” you are sure that the audience is cheering, “However, due to the Fight system, neither of us will be able to see or hear you,” you think for a few seconds, “Though this could be a good example of the Fight system. And because Frisk initiated it, he can’t go first, so it is my turn.”

 

“Yeah!” Frisk says.

 

“First, I’ll Check him, because it is good to know the Stats of who you’re going up against,” you navigate to Act and Check.

 

**Frisk**

 

**10 ATK 10 DEF**

 

***An Angel, a Friend, a Brother.**

 

You relay this information to the audience, but you wouldn’t know their reactions. It is now Frisk’s turn.

 

Act>Explain.

 

“There are four options that one can choose; Fight, Act, Item, and Mercy. They are about as obvious on what they do,” Hopes and Dreams ends and starts back up again, and he turns to you, “Want them to hear what your Theme sounds like?”

 

You nod, “Everyone, I am about to change the Theme to mine. Do not be alarmed by how it sounds,” you close your eyes, “And if you ever do something bad, and hear it… well,” you open your eyes to reveal that they are about as dark as the Void, and say in your most threatening voice “Then you’re gonna have a  **_bad time_ ** ,” though it comes out less threatening, considering you just sound like a kid.

 

Act>Theme>Change.

 

You withhold your Theme, and close your eyes, “It’s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this, kids like you,” everything flickers out for half a second, but you don’t make your eyes dark. Instead, you smile, “S h o u l d   b e f i n i s h i n g a n i n t e r v i e w,” you strike a pose, and Megalovania begins playing.

 

Neither of you do anything for the duration of Megalovania, but once it begins to loop around, Mettaton enters the Fight, “I’m pretty sure that you would  _ love _ to spend the rest of the time we have here, but we have an interview to continue. The show must go on, after all!”

 

Sighing, you and Frisk both go to Mercy and Spare each other, the Fight ending. You go back to your seats, and sit down.

 

“Now, who wants to go next?” Mettaton says, smiling at the audience. Everyone in the audience raises their hand.

 

Looks like this is going to take a while.

 

* * *

  
  


“Darlings, we only have time for one more question,” Mettaton says after what feels like a hundred questions, “Yes, darling?” he points to someone in the front row.

 

“John, is it? Well, what would you say your most favorite Theme would be?” they ask. If you had to guess, they were an aspiring musician.

 

“Undertale,” you state, “Plays at Dad’s house in New Home until the Last Corridor just before the throne room.”

 

“Really? Who names a city ‘New Home’?” they ask, bewildered.

 

“Dad does, and every Monster knows why. That’s all I will say,” you finish, sighing.

 

“That’s all for now, darlings!” Mettaton says, “See you next time!”

 

For the Fans starts playing, but experience with Mettaton tells you that it is a legitimately made song, and not a Theme. The cameras turn off, and the audience gets up, chatting excitedly.

 

Mettaton walks over to the two of you, “You two were absolutely dazzling, my little stars,” he begins petting your hair, where the two of you put on faces of pretend horror, but he simply laughs.

 

“Just wondering, but can we keep the shirts?” you ask, pulling at the chest of your shirt. It would be a shame to waste such a good copy of your shirt.

 

“I had those sweaters made just for you, so that you can advertise for MTT and be comfortable at the same time. It’s a win-win!” he begins walking towards Napstablook, and waves over his shoulder, “Toodles!”

 

Frisk looks at you, but you only shrug. You grab his arm, and glitch back home. You open the door.

 

The first thing you see when you look into the living room is Chara deep in concentration, knitting the beginnings of a sweater. If you look a bit more, he appears to be in an expression of concern. You figured that something is bothering him, considering that you learned on Wednesday that Chara had a tendency to need to knit things when under stress. It’s supposed to keep his mind and hands busy as well.

 

You limp into the dining room to see Asgore and Toriel talking, “The Canine Unit has found a lead on the thing Alphys has lost. It is a weak trail, but a weak trail is a trail regardless.”

 

“If what the children said is true, then we have no choice but do everything we can to track that thing down,” Toriel says, washing dishes.

 

“What are you talking about?” Frisk asks, stepping into the dining room.

 

“Oh, just some important matters,” Asgore replies, waving his paw in no particular direction.

 

“Like the clip I mentioned?” you say, crossing your arms, “Like we said, that video has extremely private information considering,” you look away, “the previous timeline,” you look back, “If we let that video get into the wrong hands, or God forbid the Magicians,” you shudder at the thought, “Then we are, heh,  _ royally _ screwed.”

 

Toriel laughs, “Well, my child, while it is important to locate that tape, the Canine Unit-” she begins, but Asgore’s phone rings.

 

He immediately picks it up, “Howdy, is there-” he makes the same face he did when he first met you, and Small Shock plays, “Are you sure?” there are indistinct voices of the Canine Unit, but it does not sound good by any means. He nods, “I understand. Goodbye,” and he hangs up after a second, sighing.

 

“What was it?” you ask anxiously, not wanting your fears to be true.

 

“It’s just about the search for the video,” Asgore says.

 

“What was it?” Toriel asks, slightly concerned.

 

“It’s just that,” he takes a deep breath, “The trail has gone cold once again.”

 

The sound of Chara’s knitting needles clicking together is the only thing that sounds throughout the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! After a week of mostly procrastination, I finally finished this chapter! So let's jump right in, okay?
> 
> What John means by 'Storyteller' is that, by that point in the universe's timeline, all other social media sites like Facebook are all but extinct, so Storyteller is pretty much the replacement. Also, just because I said so, Alphys did something in the past week that improved John's phone, such as increasing the screen size and add in a holographic display, so that there would be more capability. It is still Nokia brand, though
> 
> As for the video clip of the previous timeline... well, that will show up eventually. It might be next chapter, or it might be in the next installment of the series I am already planning out. Only I will tell
> 
> Another thing to add about the end of the chapter is Chara knitting. It was Asgore and Toriel who taught him how to knit, so he could keep his mind and hands busy, considering that they noticed his habit of making clenched hands at the sight of anything pointy or sharp (don't ask me why he does that, as I don't feel like coming up with an explanation). Though, to note, I saw on a wikipedia page that the earliest examples of knitting didn't appear until the late first millennium, which would be around Chara's time, but in this Undertale universe, the Monsters had knowledge of knitting long before that, with the reason being I said so :p
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	16. All That Matters is Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn more about your Soul traits, and to be more specific, the traits of Determination

You sit up in your bed, groaning yourself awake. You blink the bleariness from your eyes, and check the time on your phone. Darnit, it’s only one hour before Toriel should wake the four of you up. Shrugging, you take out your phone, so that you could finish up what you were reading. You finished reading the Perseverance trait abilities before you were too fatigued to continue reading.

 

You navigate to the app with the trait information on it. Predictably, Determination is the last of the traits, considering that it’s considered to be the most powerful of the seven traits. You tap on the Determination icon (which is an hourglass).

 

    !!!Attention!!!

 

Accessing this information requires both magic potential AND a red Soul. If you do not have both of those, then you are not permitted to see this information. Please prove yourself of those two things with the paid features before attempting to access this information again.

 

    !!!Attention!!!

 

You sigh immensely, hoping yet understanding that it wouldn’t need to be hidden behind a paywall. You take out all the pocket money you have from your inventory and put it into the inventory of your phone. You’re just glad that, this way, it acts sort of like having a debit card. You idly wonder how much money would be in your bank accounts back in your home universe.

 

Okay, so the instructions of the trait scanner says to hold the device’s camera about six inches in front of your chest and press the camera button to scan your Soul, so you do it. When you release the scanner, a wide and thin beam emits from the camera, scanning up and down your chest. This feels like a Check, yet it feels deeper than one. You hold the phone as still as you can as the scan finishes.

 

You know when it finishes by it cutting out the beam and giving off a small beep. An hourglass icon appears on screen and says ‘processing’ for a few seconds before another beep sounds out, and a new screen pops up with your results.

 

Greater Trait: Determination

Lesser Trait: N/A

Minority Traits: N/A

 

ASSESSMENT: Pure Determination with active magical ability. Report to the most easily contactable Corps member as soon as possible.

 

You smirk, knowing already that you were a pure Determination user. The paywall is now down, and you are free to peruse the page at your own leisure. You begin reading the information about Determination Souls, and what you could have gotten if you were compatible with the universe when you first found yourself here.

 

_ The red Soul, also known as Souls of Determination, is deemed by the Mage Corps to be the single most powerful Soul color any mage can have, considering its unique effects of Signatures, though that will be mentioned at the end of the notes. For now, we shall go into the history and makeup of red Souls. _

 

_ These remarkable Souls, unlike the six other Soul colors, are a result of ancient mages tampering with their Souls in an attempt to strengthen their power; what they got was a Soul trait that was always there, but never in a high enough quantity within their Souls to turn it red. Those mages passed on those traits through their children, though there have never been enough Determination Souls to be a significant amount of the total human population. _

 

_ The first recorded occurrence of Determination Souls coincide with records of the war that saw the imprisonment of the Monsters, known as the Soul War by the Corps’ records. The human’s leader was also the only other actively fighting Determination mage at the time of the war, and helped the humans to victory in the final battle, the Battle of Kings. Without the help of Determination Souls, the war would have gone on much longer than it did. _

 

_ Now, like other Soul traits, they have their own active and passive abilities, and their Signatures are unique from the rest. Here is a list of their abilities: _

 

_ Active _

_ Determination Weapons- Red mages are able to form weapons out of pure Determination, and are much more potent than their non-Determination counterparts, and each red mage has a weapon that matches them, though they are always melee in nature. When swung at a high enough speed, they create an arc made of Determination, flying forward at a high speed. _

 

_ Armor Stats- This is uniquely classed as an active-passive, as their ‘armor’ gains increased stats passively and slowly, though their armor will gain a temporary, but stronger, stat gain when they activate it. The affected armor will begin to glow red, enhanced with Determination. _

 

_ Passive _

_ Increased Odds- Determination will enhance one’s chances of success by 10% in a multiplicative manner, such as turning that fifty percent into a fifty-five percent. _

 

_ Enhanced Charisma- Determination magic allows one to more easily persuade non-reds into their favor, due to the fact that another definition of ‘determination’ is willpower. _

 

_ Uniques _

_ Soul Refusal- One way that makes reds unique is the way that, due to the unstable nature of their Souls, they are able to ‘refuse’ Soul death, though there are few examples of this happening in recorded history, and the criteria to achieve it is widely disputed. The reason for why they are able to refuse is thought to be a dual meaning in the name, if you think of it as ‘de-termination’, also known as undoing death. _

 

_ Temporal Signature- You read that right. The thing that truly sets Determination Signatures apart from others is that they are time-based, whether it be in a literal sense or in another way of thinking. These are usually the last magics that such mages learn, due to how powerful and dangerous they are, depending on the user. _

 

There is a list of notable potential red Souls, with some being suspected mages, and you are not surprised to see Napoleon Bonaparte in the potential red Soul list, but not as a suspected mage. This list is shorter than most of the other Souls, but there are enough for you to stay on your toes. Also, of the list, there are a few names that haven’t become notable until the past forty to thirty years, so you have no clue about their significance. You continue to the bottom of the page.

 

_ As mentioned when accessing this article, please contact the nearest Corps member that you know of, to speak with them about potential proper mage training, considering your great potential for being a true mage. Good luck, and, above everything else… _

 

_ Stay Determined. _

 

* * *

  
  


You lie there in your bed, turning over the information that you have learned from the article in your head. So you have been locked out of potentially cool abilities…

 

Meh, changing your Soul color and eyes at will is much cooler in your opinion. At least you could mix and match their effects at will, and have much greater ways of seeing. An idea pops into your head.

 

_ Guys? _ you ask the Souls with your Soul.

 

**We’re all here,** they respond, apparently glad that you were wanting them for something.

 

_ Want to check what other Soul traits you have? Other than your main one, of course, _ you ask them. They all seem to be happy to not just sit there and watch, so they all excitedly agree to it. You explain how to do it before getting out of the way.

 

The orange Soul is first up,  **Yeah, let’s do this!** and begins scanning his Soul. You’re waiting with metaphorically bated breath (considering you weren’t controlling your body at the moment) as you wait for the scanning to complete. The beep goes off, and the results are displayed,  **Sweet! Determination is my Lesser trait as well!**

 

The results say that he has active magic as well, in which, in your opinion, is slight cause for a minor celebration. You guess that the orange Soul was the son of magic-users, or ones who weren’t aware of being able to use magic, at least.

 

**It’s my turn now, partner,** the yellow Soul says, taking control as the orange Soul leaves. You wait, wanting to see the results as well as she scans her Soul.  **Yes! Determination for me!**

 

**My turn, please,** the green Soul says, and gets into position. After scanning, the results are in. He’s got Determination as well. You are beginning to see a pattern with them.

 

Sure enough, as the other three scan, they all prove to have Determination as Lesser traits. You know that Toriel, after a Load, knows what you’d want for your pie flavor (even though she will put in both ingredients anyway), so this could possibly mean that they could have been in control of the timeline during their journey as well, but not to the extent you, Frisk, or Flowey had.

 

You shake the thought out of your head, not affording to give those thoughts any thought as you hear the others stirring in their beds. You get back control of your body and look at the beds of the others. It appears that Chara went to bed directly after continuing on his knitting project, as what appears to be part of a sweater for Toriel is sloppily folded on his nightstand. The stress got to him good last night, after the news of the video clip was noted upon.

 

You carefully climb out of bed and sneak over to Frisk’s bed, ignoring the aches of your leg.

 

“Psst,” you whisper into his ear.

 

“Hmm?” he quietly groans back, clearly unhappy at being awake at this time despite it being out of his control.

 

“I just used the trait scanner on myself and the Souls,” you whisper.

 

“Whu-?” Frisk asks, wiping the sleep from his eyes slowly.

 

“I know what my and the Souls’ other traits are,” you say, sighing.

 

“Oh,” he says, “What are they?”

 

“I’m pure Determination, and all of the Souls have it as Lesser traits,” you respond, smirking.

 

“Oh,” Frisk repeats, rubbing the back of his neck, “Can I try it?”

 

“Knock yourself out,” you say, giving him your phone. Frisk wrinkles his nose at the model, but reads the instructions, and holds it in front of where his Soul would appear. You see him begin scanning his Soul.

 

When the scanner stops, you look over his shoulder. It appears that Frisk has small bits of the other traits in him, but when combined, they are barely a pixel’s width on the bar. It lists him as a technically pure Determination with extremely small minorities (because it needs to be a significant fraction of the Soul to count as a Lesser trait).

 

“Whatcha two idiots doing right now?” Chara suddenly says loudly behind you, causing you and Frisk to yelp, falling out of Frisk’s bed in a tangled mess of limbs. Chara and Asriel are laughing on their beds as the both of you scramble back onto Frisk’s bed, rapidly breathing to slow your heart rates.

 

“We’re just, scanning, our Soul traits,” you respond, taking deep breaths.

 

“Really? Give me that, then,” Chara says, plucking your phone from Frisk’s hand.

 

“Hey, hands off!” he loudly states, but Chara is now scanning his own Soul after a few seconds of confusion of how to work the scanner. The beep comes and processes what his Soul traits are before you could get yourself to react.

 

“Huh, that’s neat,” he says, looking at the screen of your phone.

 

“What’s neat?” you ask.

 

“This,” he says, turning the screen towards you. He appears to be a technical pure Determination Soul as well. You take your phone back, but Asriel grabs it mid-transfer.

 

“Hey! It’s not like you need to know what  _ your _ Soul traits are,” you state, “Considering that you’re a Monster and whatnot.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Asriel says, scanning. You’re not even entirely sure if it would work for him.

 

Instead of one beep, there were three beeps. Asriel wrinkles his nose, “All it says is that a Monster Soul is detected, and that it could take up to a minute to process,” he smirks, “Guess it works on Monster Souls as well.”

 

You grumble under your breath as the scanner processes Asriel’s Soul information. There are three more beeps as it finishes, “What are the results?”

 

“It says that I have equal amounts of most traits - like how all Monster Souls should typically be, but the trait I have the most affinity to is…” he frowns, “It says I have dangerously high amounts of Determination. Says I should go talk with the nearest Corps member to talk about getting it lowered.”

 

“Well that is full of bullcrap,” you say, “I made that Soul to handle the natural Determination of when you were a flower so that you won’t melt in this form,” you gesture to him from top to bottom.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say,” Asriel says, waving off your explanation.

 

You hear padded footsteps coming down the hallway that your room is located in. Everyone scrambles into their appropriate beds, and you just save your leg some aches by glitching back into your bed.

 

Toriel opens your bedroom door, “My children, I believe it is time for you to get out of bed and prepare for the day,” she says, “And I think you will be surprised who volunteered for today’s escort,” she leaves the room, leaving the door open.

 

The four of you look at each other, shrug, then begin preparing for the day ahead.

 

* * *

  
  


For your credit, you were only mildly surprised when you opened the front door after breakfast.

 

“Hello, boys,” Felix says when the door is completely opened. You produce a large smile.

 

“Hello there, Felix,” you say, “How was the rest of last week? Didn’t see you at all after Wednesday.”

 

“Well about that…” he appears slightly uncomfortable, “After what you told me what happened to me, I decided to take a short break.”

 

“Like what?” Chara asks, crossing his arms.

 

“Like doing my job; cataloguing any potentially magical being in existence,” Felix replies.

 

“Can we just leave? I just want to get this Linda day over with,” Frisk grumbles.

 

Felix winces, “Linda on a Monday? That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

 

“Not to mention that we have math tomorrow, and then history the next day,” Chara says.

 

Felix hisses through his teeth, “Is your school TRYING to kill you? Because the fun things should be interspersed with the boring bits so that you won’t get burned out, yet still learn!”

 

“Tell me about it,” you mumble, “Just want to get this day over with. It’s bad enough that we have Linda, though I’m glad we don’t have Helen or Gloria.”

 

Felix narrows his eyes, “How do you know about how bad those two are without even having met them? Not that I’m much of a fan of them myself.”

 

You wave dismissively in his direction and in clear sarcasm, you say “Player powers. Let’s just leave,” you nudge yourself past him and out the door. You can hear him sighing behind you.

 

Frisk rushes up to behind you as you approach the SAVE point, and goes up to Save. The others walk up behind you. You turn to them.

 

Felix shakes his head, “I doubt I’ll ever completely understand the nature of your Signature,” he says to Frisk.

 

“You begin to understand it after living through the same three days at least one hundred times in a row, each having almost no one else remembering. No one who remembers will forget any bad thing, either,” Frisk says, shuffling where he is standing. He is clearly, in his head, going back to the past few timelines. You place your hand on his shoulder. He nods slowly, as if understanding what you were trying to get across to him.

 

“I can vouch for that,” Asriel says, “Everything becomes extremely monotonous, even after my… bad timelines. Which is why after those ones, I just stuck with Saves and Loads.”

 

Felix gawks at the four of you, “How many of you have had that particular Signature? Because it should be impossible for anyone to have the same Signature at different times.”

 

You shrug, “Dunno. Placeholders of the ability? Like I said, let’s just going,” you begin walking (limping, technically).

 

“Determined as always, eh?” Felix chuckles.

 

“Can’t  _ not _ be Determined, considering it is the only trait in the glitched out thing that is known as my Soul,” you reply, smirking at the first bit.

 

“Sounds like you all scanned what your Soul traits are during the weekend. Mind telling me what they are?” he looks at Asriel, “I know as well that it is able to scan Monster Souls.”

 

“Yeah, well Chara and I,” Frisk motions to himself and Chara, “have barely a pixel’s width of the other traits combined. And Asriel,” he motions to said person, “has a dangerously high amount of Determination.”

 

Felix opens his mouth to speak, but you cut him off before he could even begin to speak, “It is safer for everyone who does not know already to not know.”

 

“Alright, alright. Be so darned Determined to keep that stuff under wraps, but I’ve got to say; I’m still quite intrigued about some of the things you say when you think I’m not listening,” he replies.

 

The school comes into view a few minutes later, and you’re thankful for that. When you look around, it appears that the Monster students are sticking to their own groups more persistently, while the human students brave glances in the Monsters’ directions, some with wary looks, and others with more fearful, as if the Monsters will just literally gobble up their very Souls if they merely looked at them the wrong way.

 

You hope things don’t escalate from there.

 

* * *

  
  


The day, so far, has gone as well as you had hoped, even when you add the Linda Factor plus the wary glances of the human students towards the Monsters. Frankly, you’re surprised that the school didn’t ban Monsters from attending considering what the Magicians said on live television during the assembly.

 

It is a few minutes from lunch, and Linda has made the class write out as many literary things you could remember from the top of your head, and an example to prove that you know what it is. The resulting silence, as a result, has become deafening.

 

You smirk, and write down  _ Oxymoron- The deafening silence _ .

 

“Mrs. Evans, one of the Monsters is playing music,” one girl near you says.

 

“Whoever it is, turn it off,” Linda says without looking up from her desk.

 

You listen carefully, and after a few seconds, you can hear it. It is just your non-combat Theme, What Matters is the Soul. You sigh, “I’m sorry, but I can’t turn it off.”

 

Linda sighs, clearly because of your unique affiliation, “I’m pretty sure that you could turn it off for the remainder of the day.”

 

You shake your head, “I can’t. Do you want to know why,  _ Linda _ ?”

 

“That’s Mrs. Evans to you!” she snaps, clearly agitated, “And I dare say,  _ turn it off _ .”

 

“Like I said, I literally can’t. It is coming from the very essence of my being, with the only way of stopping is by removing my Soul from existence. So what you’re saying would be akin to telling me to kill myself just to stop a relatively quiet Theme,” you say, smirking at the final part.

 

The face Linda is making in an attempt to come up with a defense is not dissimilar to a fish not in water. The entire class is silent. You spot Chara and Asriel quietly snickering, a small fireball in Asriel’s hand as a signal for burn.

 

Linda doesn’t have time to respond, as the bell to lunch rings, so she just says to you “We’ll discuss more on this after break.”

 

You give a teasing smile, before rushing out of the room after your brothers. Once in the cafeteria, you take the table that the four of you usually occupy during lunch, and produce the lunches Toriel makes for you out of your inventories.

 

“The stupid witch had it coming a mile away,” Chara says, tearing off a large piece of his sandwich with the corner of his mouth, taking large bites.

 

“Not to mention that she is a total idiot for telling you to turn it off,” Asriel says, eating his own lunch, “Any Monster knows that telling someone to turn off their Theme is like committing suicide. She obviously knows nothing about us, and doesn’t seem too keen on learning.”

 

“Guys,” Frisk says, “I think that you should stop attempting to antagonize her,” he rubs the back of his neck, “I mean, she  _ could _ make our lives heck.”

 

“Who wouldn’t want to antagonize Linda of all people?” you take a sip of your tea, “I didn’t know a single Undertale fan who doesn’t like watching Linda and her lackeys getting dunked on in any situation.”

 

Chara opens his mouth to question what you mean, but before he could, a low droning noise accompanied by the sound of propellers drown out all of the noise of the cafeteria, kids everywhere covering their ears (or equivalents, in some Monsters’ cases).

 

After a few seconds, the sound slightly lessens, but it is accompanied by a loud crunch and crashing. You can feel the tremors of the shockwave in your sternum.

 

Like any student would, everyone abandons their lunches and rushes for the exits to get a better look at what happened, the four of you no exceptions. Somehow, even with your limp, you manage to be among the first ones outside.

 

What lies before you is just a large amount of dirt gouged out of the earth, and a large piece of an aircraft is crushed into a power line pole, though what appears to be the cockpit is relatively unharmed. The four of you creep closer, while the other students stay back, too shocked at the sight in front of you.

 

Once the four of you are within poking distance of what you can now tell is a VTOL, you hear Felix running and shouting at you, “Get away from there! The ground underneath could be very unstable! So step away carefully, or else you could die.”

 

Not wanting to require a Load, the four of you begin carefully stepping away from the aircraft. You look behind you, and see that Frisk is lagging significantly behind.

 

“Frisk!” you shout at him, “Are you coming or not?”

 

“I don’t think I can go as fast as you!” he shouts back, “The path behind you looks too unstable!”

 

You hear cables unraveling, and look back. The power lines are pulling away from the pole nearest to Frisk, and come down.

 

You realize what is about to happen a second too late.

 

“FRISK!” you shout at him, abruptly stopping where you are.

 

The power line connects with Frisk, and snags on his sweater, delivering all of the electricity it is holding to him. His eyes are wide with horror.

 

Frisk collapses onto the ground, line still snagged onto his sweater and lifeless.

 

* * *

  
  


You run over to Frisk’s body, despite your left leg screaming in pain, at the same time Felix does, but you’re too afraid to touch Frisk due to the cable.

 

“I’ll take care of the power line, and I’ve already called 911 about the accident. All you need to do is make sure he stays alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive, got it?” he says, and you nod. Felix’s eyes glow blue, and he takes the end of the power line, taking it away from you and Frisk.

 

You put your ear to Frisk’s chest.

 

You can’t hear his heartbeat.

 

You can feel panic rising in your chest. He requires CPR to increase his chances of survival, but you couldn’t think clearly right now. The only thing that comes to mind is that there was a small bit of CPR practice in your high-school health class, but that felt like ages ago, and you’re not sure if you even remember how to do it properly, considering you didn’t pay much attention.

 

**If you’re finished panicking, then I could perform CPR for him,** the orange Soul offers. For the first time in the timeline, you all but shove control of your body to them, glad for once that you’re not the one in control of your body.

 

Once your vision becomes tinted orange, the Soul begins doing chest compressions on Frisk, and after several, he brings your mouth to Frisk’s mouth, attempting to put air into his lungs.

 

After a couple of minutes of the Soul doing this, you can hear sirens coming, and hear Felix grunting with effort as you suspect him using blue magic to get the VTOL away from you. It sounds like the pilot survived, but you can’t focus on it, as your brother needs more help right now.

 

Another minute of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth occurs, and the ambulances arrive, doors opening and paramedics come out.

 

Frisk gives a gasp, which fills you with relief.

 

**I think I’ve done my part,** the orange Soul says, and you resume control of your body. Paramedics arrive, and lift Frisk onto a stretcher.

 

Your relieved smile becomes horrified when you hear him give another gasp, but this one sounded like someone taking their last breath before dying for good. You look at Frisk.

 

His chest area has started glowing slightly red, and after a few seconds of becoming brighter, his Soul floats out. Everyone present, except those who can use magic, seems mesmerized by the sight of it. You, however, are scared at the sight of it, because you know that this can only mean one thing.

 

Frisk’s Soul bobs slightly up and down, and then quivers violently, snapping in half, sounding exactly like in-game. After about a second, the halves break into multiple pieces. Determination begins playing. Your body is shaking violently.

 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” one paramedic says, putting a hand onto your shoulder.

 

“Not if I’ve got anything to say about it,” you mutter, then shout at Frisk’s lifeless body “Frisk! Whatever you do, you have to stay Determined!”

 

“I’m sorry to say this, John, but Frisk is gone,” Felix says, “No one’s Signature has been observed to be usable after the death of their Soul.”

 

“Oh yeah?” you say, “Well I’ve been with him through most timelines, so I know that it still works after his Soul shattering. I’ll even prove you-”

 

* * *

  
  


***File Loaded.**

 

You look around at the early morning, and spot Frisk. He appears to be shaking like a leaf, so you do what you’ve done in every normal timeline after he dies.

 

You pull him into a hug that he accepts, nuzzling his face into your shoulder. You run your fingers through his hair, which helps calm him.

 

Felix walks up to the two of you, “Whoa, boys. What’s the purpose of this?”

 

Chara and Asriel walk up to Felix, and Asriel says “Because he died during lunch. Some sort of aircraft crashed, and Frisk was hit with a loose power line.”

 

“So, what you’re saying is that he used his Signature after death?” Felix questions, wanting to know.

 

“Yes. You even said before the Load that there are no cases of Signatures being used after death. We are living proof that Frisk can do that with his Signature,” Chara says, taking out a recording device.

 

Asriel looks at Chara, “Are you recording that for Alphys?”

 

“Yep,” he replies, red light coming on, “Never gonna let either of them forget this moment.”

 

“So,” Felix says, “Does this mean I have some new information for the Corps? Someone who could use their Signature post-mortem would be something they’d want to know about.”

 

“Don’t care,” you and Frisk reply at the same time.

 

After a few more minutes, of the hug, the two of you pull away from each other, all calmed down.

 

Your phone vibrates like crazy, and you are not surprised to see that Alphys has been texting you about the hugging.

 

ALPHYS: omg this is so adorable!

ALPHYS: what was the reason for you two doing this?

ALPHYS: whatev, all that needs to be done is that the world needs to know about this

ALPHYS: i think the 2 of you have become my #1 brotp

ALPHYS: u know, like otp but for brotherly purposes rather than romantic shipping?

ALPHYS: whatever, im posting this

 

You show the texts to Frisk, whose face becomes roughly the same shade as your Souls. You have to stuff your fist into your mouth to suppress the laughs you feel rising. You double over from all the suppressed laughter attempting to break free.

 

Once you’ve had enough, you straighten yourself, and turn to the group, “Take two, anyone? Think it should go a lot better this time around.”

 

The others nod, while Felix nods with a confused look, “I doubt I’ll ever understand your Signature.”

 

You smirk, “You said that last timeline.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, after all of this time, I finish this chapter! Sorry for the wait, there were just many distractions, and started a new job a couple of weeks ago, so that's nice. Now let's get onto the better things, shall we?
> 
> In case any of you are wondering, John's life before entering the Undertale universe was just one big 'meh', other than his job as a programmer. He doesn't long for his old life, because waking up in your favorite video game universe is just a freaking cool concept to him, regardless of the bad things that happened in the three years of living in pre-Undertale
> 
> As for other things, just so you know, Felix's Lesser trait is Kindness. Lesser traits aren't powerful enough to have the unique abilities, but they still will have the passive traits, albeit weaker than having it as a Greater trait. I had the Souls have a bit more action, because I felt like the Souls weren't getting enough love (not LOVE) in the story
> 
> The last thing I will mention is about the VTOL crashing. No, it was not an elaborate thing orchestrated by the Seven Magicians in order to kill the four boys. It was a legitimate malfunction in one of the VTOL's thrusters. Because such things can be realistic. Don't ask me about how the power lines disconnected from the poles, because I'm not a rocket scientist (instead, ask the VTOL's engine creators. They would know)
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	17. All That Matters is the Nighttime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are bored at school, and can't wait for the stargazing trip for tonight

You are fidgeting in your seat in today’s math class while waiting for class to begin, still quite wired (no pun intended) from all of the things that went down yesterday. To say that things were repeatedly going bad would be an understatement.

 

It would be more accurate to have described as Murphy’s Law being cranked up to ten, and then the key being broken off while still inside the mechanism. Things kept going wrong left and right, and while none of your were casualties again, that did not always apply to the other students. Whenever one thing was corrected, something else went wrong soon after.

 

In fact, after the fifth try, you had to give Felix a Soul fragment so that things could get more streamlined. It wasn’t until the eleventh attempt until the three skelebros had to intervene, using their abilities to make sure that no one else would get hurt, but things would keep going bad and people would die. The only reason the last attempt worked (at least the forty-third attempt) was that the universe ran out of things to throw at your group in the single event, when the fuel tank ruptured and exploded. Gaster used himself to shield those who were severely harmed in the previous try. He splattered everywhere, but was, by all technicalities, unharmed by the blast.

 

The bell rings once again, and you hear Frisk groan in his seat right next to you. You rub your leg to soothe the aches, and the teacher walks in.

 

“Good morning, class,” they say, “I hope you did the assignment over the week, because I will need to check on it to see how well you will fare in this class. So, if you may, I ask of you to pass your papers to the front.”

 

The sound of shuffling papers fills the room, interspersed with the grumblings of several others, most prominently Frisk’s. The very least you could hope for is that your help (considering that you and him are rather close) will keep him afloat in math class.

 

The teacher collects all of the papers at the end of each row, making sure each stack is neat before taking the stack of papers. Once all of the stacks are taken, the teacher heads back to the front, tapping the bottom of the papers with the table in order to straighten them out. They then put the neat pile onto their desk, and return to the center of the front of the classroom.

 

“So, for the first lesson of this semester…” the teacher begins, but you begin zoning out, pretty sure that you’ve went over this material when you were truly in fourth grade. You glance over to the others.

 

Frisk has scrunched up his face in mild disgust as he takes out his notebook to take notes. You know that he’ll need all the help that he could get. Chara, as another note, appears slightly confused at what the teacher appears to be saying about the things you’ll be learning (or reviewing) for today, in which you kind of understand; he most likely didn’t get this level of schooling back in the very late first millennium. Lastly, Asriel looks about as bored as you feel, considering that he most likely has learned this type of stuff out of sheer boredom from all the time he has spent with his fair share of resets.

 

You sigh, pulling out a notebook from your inventory, to take detailed and readable (to anyone rather than just you) notes for Frisk, because you know that Frisk himself won’t make as good of notes as you could.

 

This could possibly take a while.

 

* * *

  
  


The bell to lunch rings, but the teacher holds up their hands, so you stay where you are, waiting for the teacher to tell the class what they want to say before class is dismissed for lunch.

 

“Now, there is something we will need to briefly talk about once you all get back from lunch, as the school has required us to discuss as soon as possible during the second half of the day,” they clap their hands twice, “That is all I have to say, class. You are dismissed for lunch.”

 

The four of you collect your items (Frisk discreetly puts his notes into his inventory) and head out of the classroom door, and briskly into the cafeteria.

 

“Wonder what that’s all going to be about,” Chara says, sitting down and taking his lunch bag from his inventory.

 

“Chances are high that it will be about some boring crap that we already know about,” Asriel states, beginning to eat the lunch Toriel prepared for him. He chews a bit before taking another glance at you and Frisk, adopting a look of slight confusion, “What are you two doing?”

 

You and Frisk are devouring the lunches that were prepared for you, and through a half-chewed piece of sandwich, you say “Helping Frisk with his math notes,” and chew a few more times before you take a hard swallow, but the pressure becomes uncomfortable in your throat, so you give yourself hard pats on the chest in an attempt to help the food down.

 

“Ew, and whatever you say,” Asriel responds, returning to his own meal.

 

Once you and Frisk are done and discard the trash, Frisk takes out his notes, and you take out your own notes, so that you can compare and give tips to him.

 

“Okay, so we left off on fractions, so just need to locate the parts you did not understand, and work from there,” you mutter to Frisk, to which he nods.

 

The following work is mind-numbingly boring, and slightly arduous (considering that Frisk was never good at math in the first place), but after working on his notes for roughly fifteen minutes, the bell to recess rings, and while Chara and Asriel go ahead, grumbling about how you and Frisk were taking too long, you were carefully putting your notes back into your inventory.

 

“Let’s go, so that we won’t be the last ones sitting here,” Frisk says, sighing. You nod, limping towards the door, to which he follows you.

 

The two of you leave the school building, glancing in the direction of where the VTOL crash-landed yesterday, with the area being taped off due to unstable ground. Shrugging, you plop yourself down onto the ground beside the wall, and take out your notes to continue helping Frisk with his notes.

 

Once you have set your notes on the ground, your phone begins buzzing, with the notification sound of Sans’ sound bit from the game. Sighing, you take it out of your pocket and check your messages.

 

skeleTONofjokes: heya

 

You text him back, and put your phone back into your pocket. A few minutes later, another message from Sans. You check your phone once again.

 

skeleTONofjokes: sorry to say this but our stargazing party for tonight might not happen

SAVEscummer: Why not?

skeleTONofjokes: ive been searching the human internet for days for good telescope spots, but apparently the ones nearest to us would require several miles of shortcutting in unfamiliar area due to ‘light pollution’

 

You scrunch up your face in Determination, and furiously text him back.

 

SAVEscummer: Oh, I’ll make sure that we go on that stargazing trip tonight. Through sheer DETERMINATION!

skeleTONofjokes: heh, expected you to say that

skeleTONofjokes: tell you what; you find an excellent spot and ill give you a ‘dog free of charge. if you dont like it, youll get a full refund

 

You snicker, understanding the reference he’s getting at. You quickly navigate to the Storyteller app, sending a public message to all of your friends on it if they have any suggestions on locations to stargaze for tonight, and for it to be a relatively short distance away. You put your phone back into your pocket, and continue helping Frisk with his note-taking for class.

 

Before you know it, the bell is ringing, and you are heading back into the classroom. The teacher clears their throat before they start with the important thing that they were required to say.

 

“So, the thing I mentioned before lunch was, first off, there will be no school for tomorrow,” there are whoops of gladness throughout the classroom, but the teacher raises their hands for attention, “But instead, the school has been sponsored to a free movie screening to any student of this school. Friends and family are invited, though they will need to provide their own tickets and concessions. The downside is that you do not get to choose the movie.”

 

Permission slips are handed down the rows, and you, Frisk, and Chara look at each other, then at the slips.

 

_ I, _________________, allow this child to attend the free movie screening of “TLT”. _

 

“Looks like Felix will be useful to me for once,” Chara mutters under his breath.

 

“I can always ask Dad to sign it for me,” Asriel ponders, stroking his chin with a claw.

 

You nod, “Looks like we’ll be getting a free movie, then.”

 

* * *

  
  


You are sitting on the couch briefly after supper later in the day when you get a notification with the Storyteller sound. You quickly take out your phone and check on the notification.

 

_ Felix Leben tells you something: “I know the perfect spot for that! Meet me at the beginning of the Ebott’s Shadow Hiking Trail at the west end of town in an hour. Bring some hiking gear as well!” _

 

You smile, texting Sans that the stargazing is back on and the details, but to bring hiking gear. He just responds with a text that looks like a shrug, but tells you that you should meet up at his house before taking off.

 

“Mom?” you half-shout in the direction of the dining room, to which she pops her head into view.

 

“Yes, my child?” she says.

 

“Our stargazing party is back on for tonight; Felix will be taking us hiking to the spot,” you say with a large smile.

 

“Oh! That is good to hear, dear. Do please tell Sans to  _ star _ -t bringing you home before eleven, alright?” Toriel says, giving a small laugh at her own pun.

 

“Okay, but only because your pun made  _ sun _ -se,” you state, grinning like an idiot.

 

“Hee hee hee, well, I suppose you should let your brothers know. I know he hasn’t visibly shown it,” she slightly rolls her eyes, “but Asriel’s been waiting for this night for the past two weeks.”

 

You smile, glitching into your room to tell the news.

 

Half an hour later, the four of you are walking across the street towards the skelebros’ house. After the second knock, like calling his phone number, Papyrus opens the door, beaming at the four of you. He appears to have switched out his battle body in favor of more hiking-friendly attire.

 

“GREETINGS, PRINCES. WE WILL BEGIN OUR TREK TO THE DESTINATION ONCE THE OTHERS HAVE CHANGED INTO  _ PROPER _ HIKING GEAR,” he gives a pointed glare in the direction of what you assume to be Sans’ room.

 

Another door opens, and Gaster walks out, in what appears to be in hiking gear that suits his tastes. You don’t know how, but even these clothes appear slightly goopy while in contact with him.

 

Gaster appears to notice the four of you at the front door, smiling and walking towards you, “Good evening, children. We hope you do not mind, but Papyrus and I have decided to join you on your trek.”

 

You shake your head, smiling, “We do not mind it at all, right guys?” you look behind you, nudging them. Chara and Asriel give half-hearted mumbles of ‘yeah’, but Papyrus looks pleased nonetheless.

 

“that did not sound very enthusiastic,” Sans’ voice comes from behind Papyrus and Gaster.

 

“IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT THEY DID SO. ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT THEY DID IT AT ALL,” Papyrus says. You don’t know why, but you gave a small snort at the first few words of the second sentence.

 

You take a look at Sans. You snicker at his appearance. He appears to be wearing a jacket that was printed out to appear like a hiking vest, but it looks odd for him to have it zipped up. The pants he’s wearing also appear to be printed out like hiking pants, and he’s even wearing brown socks with brown slippers, as if to simulate hiking boots.

 

“SANS! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT WEARING  _ PROPER _ HIKING EQUIPMENT?” Papyrus says, stomping his foot on the ground.

 

“i dunno papyrus, but i think i’ve taken a  _ hiking _ to these clothes,” Sans replies, grin becoming wider.

 

It looks as if Papyrus is about to continue shouting at Sans, but Gaster sighs, putting a hand on Papyrus’ shoulder, “This is Sans’ night. You should be glad that he is putting in any effort, considering the lazybones he is.”

 

“wow, put-down by my own brothers,” Sans says with mock offense, and turns to you, “buddy, before all of us leave, we have some things to check on first,” he walks past you, and out the door, “keep an eye-socket on them while the kiddo and i check on something.”

 

You follow Sans out the door, and feel his shortcut magic wash over you. In the blink of an eye, you are at the workshop. Sans takes out his silver key, inserts it into the lock, and the door opens. You follow him inside.

 

The T.I.M.E. is sitting in the corner, covered in the sheet you recognize from the game. The two of you pull the sheet off of the machine.

 

To the untrained eye, the machine looks like it’s broken, but you are not untrained. With a few parts that were inserted to make it intentionally dysfunctional, you and Sans carefully pull out those parts, and the machine boots up, lines of code rapidly scrolling upwards. The screen stops, and comes to the options of ‘Regular Anomalies’ and ‘Temporal Anomalies’.

 

“Uh, I think ‘Regular Anomalies’ will do for now,” you state in a clear voice to the machine. Sans nods in agreement, and the voice recognition software beeps, bringing the screen to the list of anomalies.

 

“ah, a new anomaly appeared just yesterday. just as i thought. we just need to input the new data, and we’ll be good to go,” Sans states, and moves to the machine to begin typing the data.

 

“Glad that Chekhov’s gun fired off,” you mutter to yourself.

 

“what was that?” Sans questions.

 

Your mind goes blank at what you just said, but you shake your head, “Nothing. I forgot.”

 

“whatever,” he replies, and with a few more typing of keys, the T.I.M.E. whirs from the influx of new information. Sans steps back.

 

“Log of anomalies updated. Please allow the system to reboot before re-inserting blocking nodes,” the machine says, and shuts itself off. After a few seconds, the screen brightens from restarting, and a loading screen appears.

 

“welp, that is all we needed to do here,” Sans says, and once the machine’s information is updated, the two of you begin plugging back in the blocking nodes.

 

“That’s literally all you brought me here for?” you say, plugging in a node that looks exactly like fried wires.

 

“yup. besides,” his smile becomes smug, as if he remembered something you dislike remembering, “can’t look at anomalies without you, my little anomaly,” Sans states as he ruffles your hair.

 

“Heeey!” you whine, trying to swat his hand away, “I thought the deal of not calling me that was for three years.”

 

“yeah, well guess who were in an uncontrolled time loop for the equivalent of a year,” he replies.

 

You open and close your mouth in an attempt to come up with a counter-argument, but nothing comes to mind. You give an indignant whine and stomp out of the workshop, regretting the stomp with every other step.

 

* * *

  
  


Your little group arrives at the beginning of the Ebott’s Shadow Hiking Trail at the designated time, and you can spot Felix looking through a book that appears to be about plants.

 

“Hey Felix!” you shout at him. He looks up and waves at your group, closing his book.

 

“Alright, everyone. Are you sure you’re ready for this? Because it will be at least five minutes of walking,” Felix says, looking at all of you. He looks at Frisk’s feet, “Do you ever take those boots off?”

 

“Nope,” Frisk responds, smiling and shaking his head.

 

“He would wear his boots to bed if Mom allowed him to,” you state. Asriel and Chara nod as well.

 

“can we get this done with? i kinda want to use my telescope,” Sans says with uncharacteristic impatience, but you can understand; he has probably waiting his entire life to be able to use a telescope on the Surface.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Follow me,” Felix says, and begins walking into the forest, on the trail. You follow suit.

 

After about a minute, he takes a very beaten path, and it appears very unused, so you feel very uncomfortable hiking through these parts. You speed up as much as you can, and up to Felix’s side.

 

“Um, just wondering, but where in the woods are you taking us?” you ask.

 

“Not gonna spoil the surprise. It’s much better when it’s your first time seeing it for yourself,” Felix whispers, as if to not disturb the tranquility of the forest.

 

A few more minutes pass, and you hear Frisk give a gasp, as if he was remembering something important, “Felix, can you sign permission slips for us? It says that a parent or legal guardian must sign it. It’s for a movie trip tomorrow.”

 

“Ah, a movie trip. Well, I will consider signing it once we get to the spot, which is… ah, now,” he says, and you all turn to the left.

 

There is a small clearing filled with flowers, and the trees around here are thinner, allowing for more view of the sky, which is completely dark, and not a star in the sky. There is a small hill in the middle of the clearing, relatively clear of the flowers. The flowers, on the other hand, appear to be not in bloom, as their pentagonal pyramid-shaped petals are folded up.

 

“that does not look very… uh, non light-polluted,” Sans says with slight annoyance in his voice, along with some anticlimactic tones.

 

“Oh, just you wait. Close your eyes and sockets, and walk into the field of flowers,” Felix states, putting his hands on his hips.

 

Reluctantly, all of you close your eyes (or sockets in the skelebros’ case) and step into the clearing of flowers. A funny feeling comes over you, and you feel slightly warm. Something interesting begins happening.

 

From behind your eyelids, you can see light flaring, and hear Felix shouting to not open your eyes until it becomes a soft glow, and, not wanting to risk turning your retinas on fire, you keep your eyes clamped shut. Another minute goes by, and the glow begins to fade. You hear a few gasps of awe, so you open your eyes as you look upwards. You give a gasp.

 

There are more stars visible in the sky right now than stars you have ever seen in your entire life. A more dense area of stars stretches on, which you believe to be the rest of the Milky Way, and if you look a little harder, you think you can spot a one or two nebulae. You look at the flowers.

 

The flowers have opened up their petals, looking like the stars that young children draw, and you can see parts of them twinkle like stars. You crouch down a bit, and see stars and nebulae in them as well, but they do not appear to be reflected. Rather, it is as if you are seeing them as if the Earth was not in the way. The flowers are giving off a soft glow as well, though you’re not sure if they’re coming from the flowers themselves or the light collected by them.

 

“Sans,” you say, looking in his direction. His eye lights are the brightest you’ve ever seen them, and you can see trails of cyan, yellow, and purple tears, “What do you think of the sky?”

 

“it’s beautiful,” Sans replies, voice choked with emotion, and runs - yes, your eyes do not deceive you, he runs - towards the small hill, taking his telescope from his inventory.

 

You go as fast as you can to the hill as Sans takes out a book about space. As he looks at the book, his left eye begins flaring his colors. You can hear Frisk, Chara, and Asriel flinch as it happens, but this does not faze you.

 

“WOWIE! I NEVER KNEW THAT THE SURFACE’S STARS WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS,” you hear Papyrus tell Felix.

 

“Don’t thank me. Rather, thank the Star Flowers for their magical properties,” Felix replies.

 

“Sans,” Gaster says, walking up to the two of you, sockets glowing orange and cyan in their respective sides, “I do believe that it would be more comfortable for you to take off your jacket, otherwise Papyrus might miss out on some  _ pun _ ,” you can hear the smile in his voice.

 

“oh, right,” Sans says, pulling his glowing eye from the telescope long enough to unzip the jacket and take it off.

 

The shirt underneath the jacket says ‘Call me the Dog Star. Yes, I’m  _ Sirius _ .’ You can see at seven more shirts underneath as you begin giggling.

 

“More, more!” you squeal in laughter.

 

“okay, but this one’s just for you, kiddo,” he says, and pulls off this shirt.

 

“WHAT IS THIS ‘MORE’ YOU SPEAK OF?” Papyrus says, and eyes begin bugging out from his sockets at the sight of the punny shirt.

 

‘This shirt is  _ out of this world _ ’, and the picture is of the shirt in space.

 

“SANS! CAN YOU GO ON ONE TRIP WITHOUT HAVING CONVENIENT PUNS FOR EVERYTHING?!”

 

“I don’t think it’s physically possible for him to  _ not _ do it,” Gaster says, breaking into a smile, “After all, I would find it pretty  _ star _ -tling.”

 

“NYOO HOO HOO! MY OWN BROTHERS HAVE DEVOLVED INTO PUNNING FOR THE NIGHT!” Papyrus turns on Sans, “REMOVE THAT SHIRT AT ONCE!”

 

“okay.”

 

‘These puns are pretty en- _ light _ -ening.’

 

“NO, I DO NOT AGREE WITH THAT SHIRT! OFF IT GOES!”

 

“okay.”

 

‘I’m a supernova, because it  _ blows you away _ .’

 

“NONE OF THESE PUNS ARE BLOWING ME AWAY!”

 

“okay.”

 

‘Never put people into a bad  _ moon _ -d.’ and there is a picture of the moon with a sad face.

 

“THIS PUN BARELY MAKES SENSE! THEREFORE, IT SHOULD GO!”

 

“okay.”

 

‘When I make space puns, I  _ planet _ out.’

 

“GAH! ENOUGH WITH THESE CONVENIENT PUNS!”

 

“okay.”

 

‘My mind is a  _ black hole _ when it comes to space jokes.’

 

“WELL, I DO NOT SEE- WAIT! IT IS A JOKE!” he narrows his sockets, “A CLEVERLY HIDDEN ONE.”

 

“welp, that was the last space joke one i had,” Sans says, pulling off this shirt to reveal a shirt that has a lunar eclipse on the back and a total solar eclipse on the front.

 

“NOW THIS IS A SHIRT I APPROVE OF! IT’S VERY, ‘BRIGHT’, I SAY. NYEH HEH HEH!”

 

You look over to Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, whose mouths are slightly open in wonder, “Hey! Are you coming over or not?”

 

The three of them snap out of their daze, and look at you. You pat the ground next to you, in which they walk over and lie down next to you. The four of you gaze up at the sky.

 

Looks like this will be one peaceful night for the next few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is my 20th birthday today, and I really wanted to post this chapter on it
> 
> So yeah, there are only a couple of things I want to say here. First off, the Star Flowers. Don't ask me the specifics, but when these flowers are in the presence of magic, at night, and in an area with light pollution, they will 'vacuum' anything that can be considered light pollution by blooming, leaving one with an area that has an unimpeded view of the universe. This area of the Surface is particularly rich in diversity of magic-based plant life, due to the Monsters living in that generic area for centuries before being imprisoned in Mount Ebott. The magic still lingers here over one-thousand years later
> 
> The main reason I added in the part of Sans' workshop is for the sole purpose of making a mention that, before a deal was struck, Sans would call John 'my little anomaly' in an affectionate way. The smaller reason was to explain some bits about the machine one sees in-game (even though I already mentioned its purpose in the previous story). In this, it only appears broken, so that in the unlikely event someone manages to get in, they won't find any way to work the machine. The mention about Chekhov's gun is mostly because, in my opinion, I cannot Chekhov's gun very well, if at all
> 
> Other than that, see you next chapter!


	18. All That Matters is the Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go to the movie, but have a shocking reveal

You are almost bouncing and vibrating in your seat at breakfast in anticipation for the coming school day. From the extra information the permission slip gave, it said that the movie will be relatively short, but you will be viewing it enough times to make up the school day, so that you can ‘analyze’ what happens in the film, and be able to write a brief report of what you thought of it. You don’t know what the purpose of the analysis would be, but you would rather do this than go to an actual class today.

 

“My children, you should all settle down,” Toriel says, walking into the dining room with a platter of food on it, “I know that you are all excited for this event, but that does not excuse how you act  _ before _ it even happens.”

 

“Sorry, Mom,” Frisk says, slowing down the rapid swinging of his legs. You simultaneously tone down your bouncing.

 

You, Frisk, Asriel, and Chara have been awake before the sunrise, excitedly talking in hushed voices about the possibilities of what the movie could be, though you were all still quite tired from last night’s stargazing. You and Asriel even managed to get a few Star Flower seeds for Asgore, knowing that he will love them for when he begins his garden.

 

As Toriel walks back into the kitchen, the four of you lean together and continue conspiratorially.

 

“I still say that it will be a sci-fi movie,” Asriel says, eyes wide with slight excitement.

 

“Aren’t you forgetting that I’m the only one here who has never watched even a simple film? Because spoiler alert: the tenth century was not known for having movies,” Chara states, slightly annoyed.

 

“Then why did you use a term used as reference to movies and books?” Frisk points out.

 

“One picks up certain things when you’re the owner of someone else’s Soul,” Chara retorts, crossing his arms.

 

“Though the chances are rather high that it will just be some boring movie about a big historical event that has no enormous impact on our daily lives,” you state with extreme distaste. The four of you give exaggerated shudders as you turn over those thoughts.

 

Toriel walks back into the room, carrying more plates of food. Asgore walks into the dining room as well, saying “Howdy, everyone,” as he takes his seat. Toriel looks at him with a small frown but otherwise sets down the plate.

 

The six of you begin eating once Toriel has cleaned her paws and sits down. You grab the tea once you have taken some eggs and bacon (Monster versions, of course), and pour yourself some.

 

“So, my sons,” Asgore says, looking at you and Asriel, and takes a bite of his food, “I must ask; what were those seeds that you have collected from last night?”

 

“Mmm, well,” you wipe your mouth of tea, “They are Star Flowers. They pretty much take all light pollution, leaving the area of sky they are under a clear view of the universe.”

 

“Ah, that sounds lovely,” Asgore says, taking another bite, “I believe that those would be a fine addition.”

 

You smile, wiping your mouth with a napkin, “Though, I feel like you should send some of the first ones to Sans. He’ll be wanting to see the stars every night, and at home. Because he’s, well,” you shrug, “Sans.”

 

“Well, if they’re anything like Golden Flowers, then he’ll be sure to receive them in a couple of weeks,” he replies.

 

“Yes,” Toriel begins talking, “As interesting as flowers are, there are some… concerning your escort arrangement.”

 

“Hmm?” Asgore asks, then puts down his tea, “Oh, yes,” he clears his throat, “Children, we could not find a suitable escort for today.”

 

“And though I do not agree with what the school is doing for today,” Toriel frowns at that, “We have decided to be the ones to bring you to school.”

 

The four of you look between the two of them, incredulous looks on your faces. But, before any of you can say anything, Asgore speaks up, “Yes, we shall use the event that your school has provided as some much needed family time, even if it is not what is optimal for us.”

 

“That is correct,” Toriel says, nodding and smiling, “So there is no need for  _ theatrics _ .”

 

You and Frisk begin laughing, Asriel and Chara are groaning, and Asgore is just chuckling. You smile, and say “Alright, but you should  _ film _ us in,” and more laughs and groans fill the room.

 

“Please, stop torturing us with your love of puns,” Asriel whines, covering his eyes with his floppy ears.

 

“No, because how else, uh…” Frisk says, scrunching up his face in an attempt to come up with a pun, then brightens, “How else, um, would you know if this is an  _ actor _ not?”

 

You and Toriel put your heads on the table after putting aside your plates, laughing. You sneak a peek at Frisk between gasps of laughter, who is beaming at the sight of the two of you laughing at his pun.

 

Asgore is just chuckling loudly, and Asriel and Chara are groaning loudly as well. They begin shoveling their food into their mouths and by the time you’re finished laughing, they are leaving their spots at the table and getting as far away from the madness as they can get in the house.

 

* * *

  
  


The six of you walk into the view of the school, with Asgore and Toriel wearing clothing that would not draw too much attention. But, being the former king and queen of Monsters, almost every Monster student recognized Asgore (and to a lesser extent, Toriel). The human students, however, shied away at the sight, whispering among themselves.

 

Not a moment too soon, several buses pulled up to the front of the school. You suspected that there will have to be at least one or two more trips for the rest of the students.

 

“Wait a moment,” Chara says, squinting his eyes in suspicion at some of the younger students.

 

You turn your head in his direction, curiosity seeping into you, “What?”

 

“Look at those kids over there,” he says, pointing in their direction. You raise an eyebrow as if saying ‘so?’ but he gives you another look.

 

After a few seconds, you realize what Chara is going at, “Oh.”

 

“What is it?” Asriel questions in a hushed tone. Frisk leans in as well.

 

You point in the direction Chara is pointing, “Don’t those kids look a little too young to be going to a movie, even with permission slips?”

 

“Well yeah, that is a bit weird, but why should we be focusing on that?” Asriel replies, and the line for the Monster-designated bus begins moving forward.

 

“I dunno, this is just giving me bad vibes,” Chara shrugs, taking steps towards the bus.

 

The bus driver looks rather nervous after getting a busful of Monsters, but his eyes become confused then widen as he looks at the four of you and then Asgore and Toriel.

 

Sensing the tension, Asgore steps up to the bus door with a smile, and says “Howdy. I hope you don’t mind, but we,” he gestures to himself and Toriel, “would like to join as well. Is that okay with you?”

 

After a befuddled expression and a sigh of slight relief, the bus driver opens his mouth to talk, “Uh, yes, but you’ll have to sit in the, um, adult section. Of the bus,” he points to a relatively empty section, with only two or three adult Monsters in the seats.

 

“Oh, well in that case, children,” he turns to the four of you, “you should probably take your seats.”

 

Grumbling slightly, the four of you take seats as close to the adults section as you could, spotting the children whose parents came along.

 

As you suspected, the bus ride was rather short and uneventful, and within a few minutes, the bus pulls up in front of the movie theatre. As expected, when standing up, Asgore bumps his horns on the top of the bus, causing scratches.

 

“Ah! Oh, I am sorry for scratching up the bus,” he tells the driver, ducking a little while rubbing the area around the base of his horns.

 

“N-no problem,” they reply, still slightly nervous at the sight of the two Boss Monsters, “If I’m correct, then insurance will cover the damages.

 

“Oh!” Asgore says, “Then in that case, I am not sorry for scratching up the bus.”

 

Toriel bows her head, pinching the area between her eyes and shaking her head, while you mutter “Dad, that’s not what he meant.”

 

The six of you are the first ones off the bus (you suspect it has something to do with respecting the technically former royal family), and you can see the other buses unloading their students before leaving. A few of them head back into the direction of the school.

 

You enter the lobby of the theatre, and take a look around. On the screen above the tickets, the only movies going on in the theatre is the one your school is watching, which strikes you as very suspicious. You look around the lobby, and then your eyes look in the direction of-

 

“Hey, punks!” Undyne shouts from across the theatre lobby. You look in her direction, and spot Alphys next to her.

 

You smile and wave in their direction, and half-yell “‘sup, guys!”

 

In three large running steps, Undyne, with Alphys behind her, crosses over to you, picks the four of you up, and somehow noogies all of you at the same time, because apparently she can do that.

 

“What are you guys doing here?” Frisk asks as Undyne puts you back down, rubbing the spot on his head where the noogie was placed.

 

“What do you think? We’re here for a movie! What are YOU doing here?” she replies.

 

“I-I think that their sch-school is doing a movie d-day here,” Alphys supplies.

 

“Really?” Undyne turns to Asgore, “Well, we’re going to try to get whatever theatre you’re going to be in!”

 

“Well, regardless of which theatre you’ll be in, it appears that we will all be seeing the same film,” Toriel steps up and gestures to the movie list, which still had only the movie your school was going to watch.

 

“It must be a great movie if it’s the only one playing here then,” Undyne states with a large toothy smile. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it), the rest of the school enters the lobby at that moment. Of those who have not seen her during last Friday’s gym class, they recoil at the sight of her, while the more enthusiastic students flocked to her. A few approached Alphys as well.

 

“Heh. Undyne, it looks like you have yourself a few human fans. You too, Alphys,” you state, smiling a bit.

 

“You bet we do!” Undyne replies, fist pumping, “Who wouldn’t love either of us? Especially my Alphy?” she looks down affectionately at Alphys, who begins blushing profusely, both at the compliment and the attention given to her by the students.

 

“Certain humans,” Chara mutters, casting a look at some of the more fearful students.

 

“Yeah, but why should we care about them?” Asriel says, crossing his arms.

 

“Attention, students!” one of the teachers shouts, and you all turn toward them, “The film will be starting in fifteen minutes. If your parents or guardians, or friends have come to join in, then they will need to get tickets to theatres four or five. In the meantime, you are allowed to get snacks and drinks, all paid for by the school district. Any questions?” no one raises a hand, “Alright, then. Get what you want and enter your designated theatres.”

 

* * *

  
  


Fourteen minutes later with small popcorns, some candy, and small drinks, the eight of you are in the back top row, and you, Frisk, Asriel, and Chara climb into your seats. Truth be told, these seats are so big that both you and Frisk can fit into a single seat with room to spare (though, to be fair, you both were quite small for boys your age). In fact, the two of you do end up sitting in the same seat for convenience, popcorn and snacks between the two of you.

 

Chara and Asriel have opted to be in separate seats next to each other and your parents, though they have decided to be between the two, so as to keep tensions as low as possible. Undyne and Alphys are to the left of Asgore, as well.

 

Just as you all are getting as comfortable in your seats as you can, the lights of the theatre dim, to indicate that the film was starting. What little of chatter there was from the rest of the audience died down.

 

Halfway through the first trailer, you find yourself spacing out, and do not snap out of it until you feel Frisk tapping on your shoulder. You blink confusedly and look at him, raising an eyebrow in a clear gesture of ‘what?’

 

“The movie’s starting,” he whispers, and you turn to the screen, which has text fading onto it.

 

_ Time is a fickle thing, is it not? It is always in flux, always changing, always shifting. However _

 

_ … _

 

_ Can time be manipulated? _

 

_ Through thorough analysis, the contents of this film may seem unreal, but know that they are as real as the time you exist in right now. So just sit back and watch TLT. _ the screen behind the text fades orange, and the TLT enlarges to the center of the screen.

 

You don’t know why, but the familiar orangeness of the screen causes shivers to run down your spine.

 

The screen appears to come into focus slowly, TLT still in the center. The bottom of the screen becomes a blurry leafy green with yellow on top. You think that windows come into slight focus, simultaneously with a lot of a familiar purple, faded from lack of focus. In the next three seconds, the colors come into focus, and you can’t stop the sharp gasp that escapes as your blood freezes.

 

The screen is depicting the throne room from the Underground, Asgore’s back to the camera. Letters fold out from behind the capital letters, and you finally understand why it was named that, revealing the full name.

 

**_The Last Timeline_ ** .

 

The audience murmurs in confusion, but your little group’s presence feels about as stiff as a board. If you feel bad for any of the others, then Alphys would be the most, considering that you think that deja vu will be hitting her hard. Frisk curls up into a ball next to you,  as if he just wants to compress himself into nothingness. You run your fingers through his hair, to which Frisk slightly loosens.

 

_ Frishara walks into the throne room, and right up to Asgore, who is talking to Flowey in hard-to-hear voices. _

 

_ “How strange. I have never seen a flower cry before…” he says, to which Flowey disappears into the ground. Asgore turns around and faces Frishara, smiling, “Howdy! … I’m sorry, but are you the Angel that John told me about? Well, you do not look like an angel.” _

 

_ Frishara pulls Asgore into a Fight sequence. _

 

_ “Now, now. There’s no need for a Fight. Why don’t we just have a nice and reasonable chat?” _

 

_ Frishara strikes Asgore without Mercy. _

 

The audience, along with everyone who wasn’t technically present during the timeline gasps in horror, a few shrieks as well. You turn to see Asgore’s eyes wide open, words unable to express his thoughts. You look back to the screen, not having paid attention to this when you were living through it.

 

_ “Why… you…” Asgore gasps, and Frishara strikes him again, instantly turning him into dust. Asgore’s Soul appears, and Frishara reaches for it in a bored way. As expected, friendliness pellets surround his Soul, shattering it instantly. _

 

_ Flowey appears, a scared expression on his face, “Now, now. Who needs a pesky Soul so that you can leave? You and me, we can just stay down here and have all the fun we’ll ever need! Who needs the Surface as well? Not you, me, or… John… if we… can… find… him…” his face transforms into Asriel’s with scrunched shut eyes as he realizes that Frishara won't be persuaded that way, and using his voice, “I don’t want to die again.” _

 

_ Frishara strikes Flowey down with several slashes. Flowey was trembling too much to even bother burrowing into the ground. _

 

_ Chara appears in front of Frishara, like he usually does during genocides, and gives Frishara the end-of-genocide speech. _

 

“What?!” you hear Undyne whisper-yell in your and Frisk’s direction. Frisk feels to attempt shrinking into himself some more, to no avail. Asriel whispers something in her direction that you can’t pick up, but her angered expression changes very little. Chara not-so-subtly moves his sitting angle out of the way, not wanting to be glared at by Undyne some more.

 

_ You appear a few seconds before Frishara could leave the throne room. You throw out the flowers and Souls, but the Souls refuse to enter the flowers. _ You put your face into your palm, trying to recall the reason you wanted to make them into Floweys with Souls, but it eludes you. _ Instead, they go over to Frishara, who takes out their Soul. The Souls unintentionally cause pain upon contact with their Soul, so they opt for shooting themselves right into your chest. Several seconds later, once Frishara is done talking, you clumsily get to your feet, like a badly controlled marionette. _

 

You can hear whispers of the Monster students nearest to you, and though you can’t distinguish individual voices, you can hear them all relate to one thing; how you were able to take the Souls into your body despite being human. A few even sneak glances at you, to which you self-consciously cross your arms over your chest, even though you know that the Souls still show through. Some of the others shoot glares at Frisk, but others just give looks of pity, for how ashamed he seems to be at the events shown.

 

“Ho. Ly. Smokes!” you hear Undyne shout, “This music is freaking AWESOME!”

 

It appears that, during your observations, it has gotten to your first turn, World’s Edge playing. You didn’t see during your own fight, but there appeared to be a faint rainbow background behind you, though not even close to the intensity of Asriel’s fight. Anyway, it wasn’t in any angle you’d be able to see from.

 

_ The orange Soul takes control, and gives a talk about Bravery. _ The audience awes at the sound of the brave music.  _ Next up, the yellow Soul gives a talk about Justice. _ You can almost hear Undyne pumping her fist into the air at the mention.

 

As the green Soul is giving his talk about Kindness, you look over and see Toriel leaning towards Chara, “My child, I do not understand what the others are talking about. They… do not seem to have known either of you that well to be saying such things.”

 

“Yeah, well I don’t think even he,” Chara jerks his head in your direction, “knows why the Souls were saying what they were saying.”

 

“I see,” she replies, turning back to the screen.

 

You look back at the screen, and as it turns out, it was your turn again. That took less time than you thought.

 

_ You dodge the first few hits. _ The human students seem somewhat impressed at your dodging ability.  _ You take the next hit. _ Toriel, and the audience gasps loudly, thinking that you were somehow killed.  _ You refuse to die. _ A few students begin to clap.  _ You begin your speech about Determination. You take more hits from Frishara. _ The audience is confused about your mentions about timelines.

 

The audience is antsy about the reason for your Determination, and gives a collective ‘huh?’ when you say that you were Determined to Save Frisk. Some turn to give you strange looks.

 

“My child,” Toriel turns toward you as your past self began walking towards Frishara, “I know that you were, well, Determined, to Save your brother, but do you not think that it was a foolish idea to walk directly to someone who was attacking you?”

 

You shrug, “Determination works like a painkiller for the Soul in high enough quantities, and for my body, in my case. In my eyes, I would do it again and again if I had to do it again,” you absentmindedly run your fingers through Frisk’s hair yet again. You didn’t even notice, but aside from moving closer to you, he has not changed position.

 

Toriel frowns disapprovingly, turning back to the film.

 

You continue running your fingers through his hair for another minute, before screams of horror sound around the room. You give a small smile, knowing that it has gotten to the part where you embrace Frishara, and refuse to die from being stabbed in the back through the heart, Determination at that time coursing through you. Had you been anyone else in the universe, you would have died, period.

 

You look back down at Frisk, whose eyes are scrunched shut. With all of your Determination, you push and pull him until he’s in a sitting position. He still refuses to budge from being a ball.

 

Another minute goes by, and you can hear some people clapping. You turn towards the screen to find the on-screen versions of the two of you hugging each other. It appears that whoever stole the footage took away the mostly unnecessary minutes of you and Frisk sobbing against each other.

 

After on-screen you and Frisk leave the picture after talking, a student stands up, clapping. A few students join in standing and clapping, and like an infectious plague, people are standing and clapping.

 

* * *

  
  


Several hours later, the six of you walk out of the theatre, the lights in the lobby almost blinding to you. Undyne had to be escorted out on the third rerun, for being too rowdy. Alphys followed behind her, wanting to leave as well.

 

“Well, that was a rather… stressful amount of time,” Toriel states dully, slightly mumbling.

 

“No kidding,” Chara says, rubbing his forehead.

 

There is a crowd of students from the other student-dedicated showing, and when they spot the four of you, they begin flocking you, a cacophony of voices assaulting your ears, though most of them appear to be questions.

 

Frisk hides himself behind you, and you feel two large paws on your shoulders. You turn to see Asgore looking down at you.

 

“Your mother and I will handle them. You just focus on taking your brothers home,” he says, and you nod.

 

In quick succession, you manage to bring Asriel, Chara, and Frisk home, leaving Asgore and Toriel to handle the crowd.

 

Frisk keeps looking down at his boots, refusing to look anywhere else. You turn to Asriel and Chara, who apparently knows what you were going to tell them, and they walk out of the room, leaving you and Frisk alone.

 

“Frisk?” you ask, nudging him. He does not move. You give him a few small pinches on the arm, with the only reactions being tensing from pain. You resort to poking his cheek, which is, like a lot of Frisks in the multiverse, quite squishy.

 

“What?!” he almost shouts in annoyance.

 

“I just want to talk to you about the film,” you put it simply.

 

“What about it? There’s nothing much left to talk about it!” he loudly states, putting his face into his hands, “Everyone at school now knows my secret, which extends to you and Chara! I can never show my face at school again without a Reset!”

 

You tilt your head, “Well, I think you’re just underestimating yourself, considering how everyone reacted at the end of the first round.”

 

Frisk pulls his hands away from his face, “They weren’t clapping for me. Rather, they were clapping for you Saving me! Because YOU fixed my dumb decision in the first place!”

 

You pull away, “Well, can’t argue with that. But there’s something you haven’t accounted for.”

 

He looks at you dully, “What?”

 

You smile devilishly, “This!” and you tackle him.

 

“Hey!” he shouts, arms and legs flailing around, “What’s the point of this? You are not making any sense about this decision!”

 

“Oh, I am making sense with this decision,” you state, smiling. You plant yourself onto his chest to keep him from being able to get back up.

 

“What would that be?” he asks, attempting to push you off.

 

“You’re no longer focusing on the negative thoughts of other people’s opinions,” you smirk, “Yet another thing about Determination; it needs a goal it can reach sometime. Like getting me off of you is your main focus right now, and if I can keep you at it, those thoughts could dissolve into nothingness.”

 

“That sounds like a seven-year old’s logic!” Frisk says.

 

“Well think of this, if it helps,” you say, ignoring his comment, “To any Monster who has watched it, I would like to think of them being happier at the fact that you were Saved, rather than the fact that I was the one Saving you,” you cock your head to the side, “It’s something you learn and figure out when you’ve been living with them for three years.”

 

Frisk looks at you dumbly, “What about the other kids? The human ones, I mean.”

 

You blow air out of your mouth, “Screw anything any heavily negative thing a random human kid we don’t know says! Because what’s the weight of a random kid against those who care about you? I’d say it’s worth less than dirt!”

 

Frisk’s expression is unreadable, so you can’t tell if you’ve convinced him or if he’s just confused. He appears to come to a decision as he says “How about a deal: I can see what the other kids say about… ‘that’, timeline, tomorrow, and you can get off of me?”

 

You give a half-shrug, “Eh, short term benefit for you, but whatever,” you get off of Frisk, and hold out a hand, to which he grabs it, and pulls himself up.

 

Once Frisk is on his feet, the bedroom door opens, and Chara pokes his head in, “Mom’s too stressed from the film and handling the brats, so she won’t be cooking tonight. But! We’re having Grillby’s instead!”

 

You and Frisk look at each other, and say “Sweet!” at the same time, walking out the door.

 

You just hope that the other students have decent reports about the film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: The chapter that the movie was based on (Chapter 21 of What Matters, for those who do not know or remember) was my most favorite chapter to write as of yet
> 
> Do not ask me why the Souls said the things they said during that chapter, as I only wrote what sounded cool. The only reason I can think of at this moment is that they were grasping at straws, not knowing Frisk (or even Chara) to the extent of John
> 
> There's not much left I have to say here, considering that I want to sleep now, and have a hard time remembering what I wanted to put into the notes, but if I can remember, I'll update the notes if I can get past my stubbornness of not updating notes when I remember something important
> 
> So, see you next chapter!


End file.
